The personal–institutional resilience link: school leadership during prolonged war

Purpose Educational leadership scholarship increasingly recognizes resilience as critical in times of crisis. However, it is typically conceptualized either as an individual leadership capacity or as an organizational capacity. Far less attention has been given to the processes through which personal leadership resilience is translated into organizational stabilization during prolonged crisis. Focusing on high school principals in Israel during the October 7 War (2023), this study explores how leaders translated personal resilience into stabilized organizational practices while navigating emergency conditions and prolonged uncertainty. Design/methodology/approach Empirically, the study draws on 36 in-depth semi-structured interviews with high-school principals conducted during the ongoing war. Findings Analyzed through layered coding informed by reflexive thematic analysis, the findings identify three interrelated mechanisms through which principals stabilized their schools: managerial stabilization (structured decision-making and adaptive recalibration under ambiguity), institutional containment (visible leadership presence and relational regulation sustaining trust and continuity), and leadership mediation at the system-school boundary (interpretation and contextual adaptation of evolving system demands). Originality/value By examining the leadership mechanisms that connect personal resilience with organizational routines, this study clarifies the personal–institutional resilience link and offers practical implications for school leadership during prolonged crises.