Vampires in the office: Understanding deenergizing leadership behavior

To perform well in the workplace, employees must have energy: the feeling and capability of being able to act. Employees’ energy levels are influenced by their interactions with their leaders. Previous research has identified overtly toxic behaviors such as bullying or harassment which produce negative effects on energy. However, leaders may also drain the energy of those they oversee through more subtle means that to this point have not been explored by management scholars. We address this gap by introducing the concept of “deenergizing leadership behavior,” which encompasses the more obviously destructive toxic behaviors, but also more understated actions. Drawing on related literature on organizational psychology and energy, we examine three categories of energy: physical, cognitive, and emotional, and we describe the mechanisms through which leaders may—even inadvertently—deplete each type, leading to disengagement, productivity declines, and turnover. We also argue that in leader-follower relationships, the inherent power asymmetries, the heightened expectations placed on leaders, and employees’ limited ability to avoid their leaders could magnify the effects of deenergizing behavior. We hope to inspire further research into deenergizing leadership and to improve leaders’ ability to recognize deenergizing behaviors in themselves and in others. We provide a self-reflection tool to help leaders identify and address their own deenergizing tendencies, enabling them to reclaim their roles as energy boosters rather than energy vampires.