Learning to lead: Navigating competing expectations helps new managers build stronger teams

Becoming a team leader doesn’t just mean taking on more responsibility. It means learning to navigate competing expectations.

New leaders are expected to be available whenever teammates or clients need them while still finding uninterrupted time for complex work. They need to project confidence while continuing to learn. And they’re expected to take ownership of their work while recognizing that someone else has the final say.

According to new research from Texas A&M University, no one of those expectations is overwhelming on its own. The challenge comes from trying to meet all of them at the same time.

Emily Blum, assistant professor of accounting at Mays Business School, along with collaborator Kris Hoang of the University of Alabama, interviewed 45 audit senior associates at large U.S. accounting firms to better understand how they experience a role that requires them to both perform their own work and lead others. Their findings, published in The Accounting Review, suggest these competing demands are a key part of developing as a leader and that organizations play an important role in helping new leaders navigate them.

“These young professionals are really juggling a heavy load,” Blum said. “And no one expectation on its own seems like too much. They’re asked to perform complex analyses, supervise and coach junior staff members and to liaise with the executive team, with the client, with the support team. And the challenge really comes from the contradictions between expectations.”

One of the tensions Blum identified is balancing immediate demands with work that requires sustained concentration. New leaders can feel pressure to respond instantly to clients and teammates while also carving out time for the deep, focused thinking their own responsibilities require.

They’re also expected to look like they have the answers while continuing to develop their skills, and to exercise independent judgment while deferring to the authority of more senior leaders.

Those competing expectations can make the experience feel overwhelming. Blum recalled one professional describing it as feeling like they were trying to “get out from underwater” while people were “still throwing water on top of them.”

But Blum said tensions aren’t something new leaders can simply resolve by deciding which responsibility matters most. Focusing exclusively on their team’s immediate needs can prevent them from completing their own work. Ignoring those needs to concentrate on their own assignments can ultimately hurt the team’s performance.

“One of the things we learned was, you really can’t just pick one thing,” Blum said. “You have to find a way to hold both of these, and that can be really hard.”

Learning to navigate those trade-offs matters because competing demands don’t disappear as employees advance, Blum said. They’re part of how organizations work and can come with even higher stakes later in a career.

The study found that some employees developed ways to navigate both sides of these competing demands through communication, prioritization and intentional ways of working. One professional, for example, learned to ask a supervisor for help reorganizing priorities, knowing the request could lead to work being redistributed without framing the conversation as an inability to handle the job.

Blum said new leaders can run into trouble when they lean too far in one direction—either asserting themselves before they’ve learned to “read the room” or stepping back too much and avoiding decisions. “Both of them can feel really comfortable, but both of them mean that you’ve kind of given up half your job,” she said.

The researchers also identified three resources organizations can provide to help employees succeed in their first leadership roles: time, information and social capital.

Providing time may mean intentionally structuring workloads so employees responsible for significant coaching duties have less independent, complex work of their own. Information means giving emerging leaders enough context to make informed decisions rather than simply communicating the final decision. And social capital—trust and strong relationships—can give new leaders support when they encounter problems, rather than leaving them to figure everything out on their own.

“It’s not about taking away all the tension,” Blum said. “That tension is actually really important. That’s how you practice for being an executive. It’s more about giving them the support so that they can struggle productively.”

For employees who feel pulled between competing expectations, Blum said discomfort doesn’t necessarily mean they’re on the wrong track.

“If you’re working hard and you still feel like you’re being pulled in two different directions, it may be that you’re doing things exactly right,” she said. “That could be a sign that you’re trying to navigate these tensions instead of letting them push you to ignore a piece of your job. If you’re in that position, I’d say keep going. It should get more comfortable with time.”

Who’s behind this story?

Gaby Clark

MA in English, copy editor since 2021 with experience in higher education and health content. Dedicated to trustworthy science news.

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Andrew Zinin

Master’s in physics with research experience. Long-time science news enthusiast. Plays key role in Science X’s editorial success.

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