I had 11x Green Giants planted in early Fall 2-years ago, these were purchased at 3-4' and now are anywhere between 8' - 12' (the smaller are on the edges of the fence line that get less sun due to neighbors trees.

These are all single leader, so the top portion was growing very leggy this past Spring as they shot up with all the rain. So, I knocked the central leaders back some to promote more fullness, as well as pruning them back into shape and getting rid of any vertical branches hitting the next horizontal branches.

My question is, did I just stunt the growth of these trees since the central leader is no longer shooting up ?

I see the next closest branch to the top has now arched vertical and is assuming the role as a new central leader - is this effectively the only way I am now going to get growth ? Is this OK, or do I not want this new leader since it basically looks like a branch for the first inch, and then curves upwards (thinking long-term in terms of structure and resiliency for the lifecycle the tree) ?