The partner leading still has to notice whether the other person can follow comfortably.

Leading is not the same as deciding alone at speed. Someone setting the direction is also responsible for the pace, and a direction the other person cannot actually keep up with is not leadership so much as walking off. The skill sits almost entirely in the noticing: a slight resistance, a shortened step, a hesitation that has not been said out loud. Without that, confidence and force become indistinguishable.

Wherever you are the one out front this week, check the follow rather than the plan. Ask once, plainly, whether the pace is workable, and be willing to slow down.