Sustaining Leadership: Balancing Job Demands and Resources in Post-Pandemic School Leadership in the Northeastern United States

Strengths-based leadership presents challenges when enacted within deficit-oriented educational systems, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic, which intensified the emotional and psychological demands placed on school leaders. While existing literature has focused on burnout and attrition, less is known about why experienced administrators choose to remain in their roles. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how elementary school principals and assistant principals in a small northeastern United States state describe their experiences of remaining in the profession despite post-pandemic stress and increasing job demands. Grounded in the Job Demands–Resources framework and informed by a strengths-based leadership perspective, this study used a phenomenological design to examine how administrators interpret and navigate the relationship between job demands and job resources. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with four participants and analyzed using two-cycle coding, including descriptive and structural coding followed by pattern coding. Findings indicated that participants sustained their work through relational trust, intentional self-care practices, and strengths-based communication, while organizational conditions, including administrative support and opportunities for professional dialogue, shaped their capacity to remain engaged. These findings suggest that leadership sustainability is not solely an individual responsibility but is influenced by relational and structural supports, with implications for district leaders seeking to strengthen conditions that promote administrator retention and well-being.