Situation Selection: How Principals Engage in Strategic Thinking to Influence Their Own Emotions and Those of Others

Abstract

The ability to effectively manage one's emotions has become a fundamental work demand for leaders in a variety of professions, including principals and other school leaders. Framed by Gross's Process Model of Emotional Regulation, this study explores how secondary school principals engage in strategic leadership by utilizing strategies related to the situation selection family of emotional regulation. While prior research associated strategic leadership in schools with efficiencies that can be gained when engaging in management-based tasks, such as allocating resources, recruiting staff, and practicing instructional leadership, the findings of this study suggest that principals have had to learn to be strategic in other aspects of their work, especially in terms of how they manage themselves, their time, and their emotions. Several implications for policy and practice arose from this study, including the need to expand the academic definition of strategic leadership so it is better aligned with the realities of contemporary schooling.