What Have We Learned from COVID-19 About Flexible, Resilient Leadership? That question landed in my spirit the moment I sat down to reflect on everything we have been through since March 2020.
As school administrators and central office staff, you were not simply managing operations; you were called to lead through the most disruptive crisis in modern public education history. Overnight, hallways went silent. Cafeterias emptied. And every system, structure, and assumption you had built your school on was suddenly turned upside down.
So what did we learn? And more importantly, are we using those lessons?
The Moment That Changed Everything For Me
Years ago, before I ever walked into a school as an administrator, I learned one of the most humbling leadership lessons of my life, not in a boardroom, not in a classroom, but in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) at college.
In those days, I believed wholeheartedly that speaking boldly and often was a virtue. I challenged decisions publicly. I offered my opinion whether it was asked for or not. I thought I was helping my fellow cadets by being their advocate. What I didn’t realize was that I was undermining the very culture of trust and collective strength that effective leadership requires.
When our peer evaluations came in, I was rated the worst cadet in the unit. I was stunned. But my Sergeant Major sat me down and said something I have carried with me ever since. He helped me understand that leadership is not about having the most to say; it’s about knowing when to speak, how to listen, and what your presence conveys to those around you.
That season of correction transformed me. I stopped reacting and started reflecting. And the result? I went from the lowest-rated cadet in the unit to the first female cadet commander.
I share that story now because COVID-19 did to school leaders what that peer evaluation did to me: it forced an honest reckoning. The crisis held up a mirror, and what many of us saw revealed both our gaps and our greatest capacities.
What Too Many Leaders Got Wrong
When the pandemic hit, the most common response from well-intentioned administrators was to go into full reactive mode. Decisions were made at breakneck speed without sufficient communication. Some leaders disappeared into the logistics of technology distribution, meal programs, and policy compliance, necessary work, no doubt, but they forgot that their people needed to see them. Teachers, parents, and students were looking for someone to anchor them, and too often, what they found instead was an inbox full of memos.
The reactive leader, the one who manages situations rather than people, defaults to urgency. Every problem becomes equally important, so nothing truly important gets prioritized. John Maxwell warns us plainly: “During times of uncertainty, one of the easiest traps we can fall into is simply reacting to everything around us.”
Many administrators also made the error of assuming that compliance equaled success. If teachers were logging into virtual platforms and students were technically “in attendance,” the box was checked. But compliance without connection is an illusion of progress. It produces exhausted staff, disengaged students, and a leader who is busy but not effective.
The deeper issue was often one of inner posture. When leaders operate from fear, fear of public scrutiny, fear of making the wrong call, fear of appearing uncertain, they tighten their grip rather than extend trust. And tight-fisted leadership in a crisis is like trying to hold water in a closed fist. It doesn’t preserve anything. It just accelerates loss.
What Resilient, Flexible Leaders Did Differently
The leaders who navigated COVID-19 well shared a defining characteristic: they led from their values, not their fears. As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released evolving guidance throughout 2020 and 2021, the most effective school administrators communicated clearly and consistently, even when the message was “we don’t have all the answers yet.” Transparency, it turned out, was more powerful than certainty.
Research from the Wallace Foundation confirms that effective school leaders prioritize relationships and capacity-building, especially during times of disruption. Those administrators who remained visible, communicated with empathy, and delegated meaningfully were not just managing a crisis; they were modeling the resilience they needed their entire organization to adopt.
Flexibility, in this context, did not mean abandoning structure. It meant holding structure loosely enough to adapt without losing direction. Think of it as the difference between a rigid oak tree and a bamboo stalk. When the storm comes, the oak resists and breaks. The bamboo bends and stands back up.
The most flexible leaders during COVID-19 established what researchers call “adaptive capacity”, the ability of an organization to recognize change, learn quickly, and realign resources without losing its core identity. They asked different questions: not How do we get back to normal? But what is the new opportunity within this disruption?
Leading with Hope and Intentionality
Napoleon is credited with saying, “A leader is a dealer in hope.” That quote resonates deeply in the context of school leadership after COVID-19. Hope, in leadership, is not passive optimism. It is the active, intentional choice to look for the opening in every obstacle, to invest in people when systems are failing, and to communicate a believable vision for what comes next.
What does flexible, resilient leadership look like in practice for today’s K–12 administrators? It looks like protecting time for meaningful coaching conversations with your teachers rather than being swallowed by your inbox. It looks like sharing your professional growth goals openly with your staff and being willing to say, “Here is where I am growing, and here is what I am learning.” It looks like building structures for collaboration that outlast any single crisis or initiative.
Resilience is not a personality trait you either have or don’t. It is a practice you build in yourself first, and then in your organization. The Brookings Institution found that schools with strong instructional leadership and a culture of collaborative trust showed greater academic recovery post-pandemic than those that relied solely on remediation programs. The culture that your leadership creates is, in fact, the intervention.
So reflect honestly. Are you spending the majority of your leadership energy on things that directly affect teaching and learning? Are you showing up with visibility, clarity, and hope, the three things Maxwell says leaders must bring in difficult times? Are you bending like bamboo when the storms come, or are you holding so tightly to the old structure that you risk breaking entirely?
My final thoughts…
COVID-19 gave every school leader an unwanted gift: exposure. It revealed what our systems were truly built on, and whether our leadership was capable of holding people together when everything else fell apart.
Now it is time to do something with that revelation.
Commit this week to one concrete action: have a transparent conversation with your leadership team about the lessons your school or district is still carrying from the pandemic. Ask them what worked. Ask them what they didn’t. And then, listen before you speak.
As I learned long ago in ROTC, the leader who reflects before reacting, who earns trust before demanding compliance, and who deals in hope rather than fear is the leader people will follow, not because they have to, but because they believe in where you are taking them.
That is the kind of leader our students need. And that is the kind of leader you have what it takes to be.
Are you ready to lead with that level of flexibility and resilience?
#EducationalLeader,
Kim
When students are well led, they learn well.
References
- Bryk, A. S., Sebring, P. B., Allensworth, E., Easton, J. Q., & Luppescu, S. (2021). Organizing schools for improvement: Lessons from Chicago. University of Chicago Press.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). COVID-19 guidance for schools and childcare programs. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
- Grissom, J. A., Egalite, A. J., & Lindsay, C. A. (2021). How principals affect students and schools: A systematic synthesis of two decades of research. The Wallace Foundation.
- Heifetz, R., Grashow, A., & Linsky, M. (2009). The practice of adaptive leadership: Tools and tactics for changing your organization and the world. Harvard Business Press.
- Maxwell, J. C. (2020). The leader’s greatest return: Attracting, developing, and multiplying leaders. HarperCollins Leadership.
- Vaden, R. (2015). Procrastinate on purpose: 5 permissions to multiply your time. Penguin Random House.
The views shared herein are solely those of Dr. Kim D. Moore and do not necessarily reflect the positions of her employer, the school district, or any local, state, or federal government entity.
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