The Invisible Leader: When Leadership Is Absent

Granted, you have a boss who you report to at work, and he is responsible for your performance evaluation.

But is your boss really a leader?

I have experienced situations in my career where I had a boss, but not a leader. Such invisible bosses leave their teams without guidance and the support they need.

They are little more than names and boxes in the org chart.

In this article I will discuss this breed of invisible leaders, their impact on the organization, and how to deal with them.

Lack of Direction and Support

Invisible leaders typically have no clue about what they want to do in their roles.

They fail to provide guidance or direction to their teams.

They lack a clear vision or a set of goals for the team.

They stay away from development and goal setting conversations with their team members.

This lack of direction and support can leave the team members feeling confused, lost and directionless.

If you are facing this situation, you need to take the lead in setting up goal setting conversations with him. Ask him to clarify your goals and responsibilities. Ask him: Where does he see the team going, and what is considered a “success”.

Poor Communication

Invisible leaders are poor communicators.

They fail to provide the information to their teams in a timely manner, leaving their teams in the dark.

Importance decisions, corporate policies and other information is either not shared or shared too late.

Some poor leaders do communicate, but fail to add their own perspective to it. They simply play the role of a messenger passing information from one end to the other without any effort of their own.

This lack of communication leads to confusion and creates a disconnect among the team members as they are unaware of key pieces of information. It can also lead to wasted effort and frustration.

If you are facing such a communication black hole you should prompt your boss for information in his staff meetings, and keep reminding him of this important aspect of a leader’s role.

Poor Decision Making

Invisible leaders stay away from making key decisions.

They fail to step up and take ownership for decisions, and instead prefer to drag decisions until they die a gory death.

They also fail to identify impediments or blockers that are preventing the team from moving forward, and assume no news is good news.

Such bosses hide behind the decisions made by others — either their peers, their bosses or their teams — and avoid coming into the limelight.

One of my previous bosses was never able to understand the importance and urgency of certain decisions, and let things drag, which ultimately led to frustration and drop in engagement for the teams.

Ultimately I had to take things in my own hands, and assumed the role of the decision owner. This made him realize what he was lacking and later prompted him to take more ownership.

Missed Opportunities for Growth

Everyone aspires to grow and take on bigger challenges.

A leader is responsible for nurturing their teams, and providing growth and development opportunities to them.

However, invisible leaders do the exact opposite. They miss or actively block their team from growing.

Such bosses miss opportunities to provide constructive feedback to their teams, and they are far from being effective coaches.

Such lack of growth leads to stagnation and frustration for the team.

This is a tricky situation and very difficult to navigate for teams. If you are facing such a situation, you can bring this up with your skip level boss and share this in your next employee engagement survey.

Resistance to Change

Change is inevitable, and invisible leaders struggle with change, and fail to implement it effectively.

They are poor communicators, and implementing change requires their active participation and communication to various stakeholders.

They fail to provide the context behind the change, how that is linked to their vision and goals, and why it matters.

In the absence of clear communication and support, team members may resist the change, and view it as unnecessary. This lack of alignment can hinder the team from moving forward.

If you face such a situation, you should ask your boss about the rationale and context for the change. Ask him how this connects to your vision, and your organizational goals. Ask him what is his strategy and game plan to implement this change.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, many leaders are poor at their jobs and are simply names and boxes in the org chart.

Teams under such invisible leaders typically:

• Lack direction and support
• Face poor or missing communication
• Face poor or missing decision making
• Miss opportunities for growth
• Resist change

Effective leadership requires an active role by the manager: to communicate with their team, to provide the direction and support, to take ownership of key decisions, and to provide opportunities for their team to growth.

For this, the leader needs to be present. They need to be connected with the teams, their peers, and other stakeholders.

They need to be active, and responsive.

They need to be visible.

Not just as a name in the org chart. But visible in action, and commitment.

Have you experienced an invisible leader? Share your experience in the comments below!

Like my writing?

If you found this post of value, do consider giving me a follow and some claps👏 as a form of encouragement. You can also connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter. Thank you!