The leadership pendulum: Finding the balance between support and accountability

HR leaders today face a paradox that’s quietly undermining organisational performance across industries. After decades of largely autocratic leadership, the pendulum has swung dramatically toward overly supportive management styles. While this shift was necessary and well-intentioned, it’s created an unexpected consequence: organisations struggling to maintain accountability, drive performance, and make difficult decisions.

As a result, teams feel supported but lack direction, managers fear being seen as overly assertive, and organisations are losing their ability to have difficult conversations or hold people accountable to standards. This isn’t about returning to a command-and-control leadership type, but finding what I call the “chasm” between supportive and assertive leadership styles.

From one extreme to another

Traditional leadership through the 1980s, 1990s and into the 2000s was predominantly autocratic and hierarchical. Performance was driven through authority and directive approaches. The message was clear that you were at work to do a job. While this approach at times delivered results, it came at a significant human cost.

As society progressed into the 2010s and beyond, driven by advancing employment rights, equality initiatives, and greater workplace diversity, many organisations swung completely to the opposite extreme. Rather than finding balance, we over-corrected toward overly supportive leadership styles, becoming focused on catering to feelings while avoiding actions or behaviours that might be perceived as too direct.

COVID-19 supercharged this shift. The normalisation of remote working and wellbeing-focused approaches created new challenges where leaders became terrified of being remotely assertive. Many organisations have largely lost their ability to drive accountability, make tough decisions or have difficult conversations because leaders fear being seen as too demanding.

The cost of imbalance

This pendulum swing has created what I term the “seesaw syndrome”, where organisations fluctuate between extremes rather than finding sustainable balance. The symptoms are evident across workplaces, from decision paralysis caused by lengthy consultation processes, to accountability vacuums where responsibilities and consequences remain unclear. Performance begins to drift as teams feel supported but lack the drive and clarity needed for high performance, while managers struggle with the confidence to provide clear direction or challenge poor performance.

For HR professionals, this manifests in increased grievances, performance management challenges, and difficulty maintaining organisational culture in hybrid environments. High performers become disengaged when standards slip and excellence isn’t recognised or expected, creating a talent retention challenge that compounds over time.

Finding the supportive-assertive sweet spot

The solution isn’t choosing between supportive and assertive leadership, but mastering both. The most effective leaders operate in what I call the chasm, a sweet spot where high standards meet high support. These leaders combine clear expectations, accountability for results, direct feedback, and decisiveness, with empathy, trust-building, and individual development.

This isn’t about personality, but contextual leadership. The same leader might need to be highly directive during a crisis and highly collaborative during strategic planning. The key is reading situations accurately and responding appropriately. Working with elite sports teams (like the INEOS Grenadiers cycling team) and high-performing organisations has shown me that the best results come when leaders can seamlessly move between these styles based on what their team needs in the moment.

Practical strategies for HR leaders

HR professionals are uniquely positioned to guide this transformation. The starting point is conducting honest assessments of where your leaders currently operate on the supportive-assertive spectrum. Use 360-degree feedback, team surveys and performance data to identify patterns. Are managers avoiding difficult conversations? Are standards maintained? Do teams feel both supported and challenged?

Leadership development needs to evolve beyond traditional training that treats supportive and assertive as opposing forces. Instead, develop programmes that help leaders to combine both qualities contextually. Include scenario-based training where leaders practice switching between styles. Many leaders now fear being assertive because they associate it with outdated approaches. Help them to understand that clear expectations, direct feedback and accountability are actually supportive behaviours when delivered with respect and context.

Organisations also need clear guidelines for when collaborative approaches are appropriate and when directive leadership is needed. Emergency situations, time-sensitive decisions and performance issues often require assertive leadership, while strategic planning and change management benefit from collaborative approaches. The skill lies in helping leaders read situations and adapt accordingly, including recognising when team members need more support and when clearer direction or accountability are required.

The hybrid work challenge

The supportive-assertive balance becomes even more critical in hybrid environments. Remote working can make managers reluctant to be assertive, fearing it will come across as micromanagement. Conversely, the lack of physical presence can make supportive behaviours less visible.

HR leaders must help managers understand that hybrid work requires more intentional leadership, not less assertive leadership. This means clearer communication of expectations and deadlines, more structured check-ins and feedback sessions, explicit recognition and accountability systems, and deliberate relationship-building to maintain trust and support. The physical distance actually demands more skill in reading context and adjusting leadership style, not less.

Beyond the pendulum

The organisations that will thrive are those that move beyond the pendulum swing to embrace both supportive and assertive leadership as complementary strengths. This requires HR leaders to challenge the false choice that has emerged between being liked and being effective. Help leaders understand they don’t need to choose one over the other.

Model this balanced leadership in your own HR role, demonstrating how to be both supportive and assertive in your interactions with the business. Track not just engagement scores but also performance outcomes, accountability metrics, and decision-making speed. Recognise and promote leaders who successfully combine high support with high standards, making this balanced approach visible and valued throughout the organisation.

The future belongs to organisations that can maintain human-centred cultures while driving performance and accountability. The pendulum has swung far enough, and the opportunity for HR leaders is clear: guide your organisation away from the extremes and into the sustainable high performance that comes from mastering the supportive-assertive balance. It’s time to find the centre.

Martin Johnson Martin Johnson is the founder and CEO of leadership and performance consultancy T2, working with elite sports teams (Manchester United, Tour de France cycling teams under Sir Dave Brailsford), major corporations, and public sector organisations. A former Royal Navy serviceman and author of two leadership books, he brings unique insights from the military, elite sports and corporate environments.

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