Early in 2020, the United States was faced with the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in several school districts across the country shutting down. What began as a temporary school closure morphed into one of the most creative and labor-intensive restructurings of schools. Leading the dramatic changes were elementary school principals who were tasked with creating new structures and systems aimed at supporting their educational partners. The purpose of the study was to explore how emotional intelligence has been employed by elementary school principals in their workspace, especially the usage, application, and adaption of emotional intelligence during COVID-19. The study addressed the two sub research questions: 1) How did elementary school principals use and/or adapt aspects of emotional intelligence such as emotional self-awareness, emotional expression, and emotional awareness of others? 2) How did elementary school principals use and/or adapt aspects of emotional intelligence such as emotional reasoning, emotional self-management, emotional management of others, and emotional self-control? The 12 participants for the study consisted of individuals within Los Angeles County who were in a leadership position at an elementary school site as the role of the principal during the beginning stages of the pandemic. The study gathered data via in-person and online meetings through a semi-structured, phenomenological interview protocol that was adapted based on portions of the Genos Emotional Intelligence Inventory. Referencing the process outlined by Merriam and Tisdell (2016), Miles et al. (2020), and Patton (2015), three cycles of coding were conducted. Four themes emerged from the 15 categories and 263 codes: 1) Principals need to adopt an altruistic view to manage the all-encompassing workload demands. The altruistic view for managing the workload demands was achieved through the compartmentalization of personal feelings, emotions, and the realization and practice of self-care as an essential need to sustain the leadership role and expectations; 2) Principals understand the necessity, impact, and benefits of personal, colleague, and school community connections and the need for providing and having intentional opportunities to bond as a society for effective leadership; 3) Principals demonstrated diligence and persistence while overseeing the confines of their workload and leadership role, while being cognizant of intentional ways to support those they serve through the highest standard of professionalism; 4) Principals needed to adopt procedures for accomplishing the redefining roles that were required of their leadership by interpreting authentically the emotional needs of their school community. Findings from the study may provide insightful information that could be applicable for current elementary school principals, superintendent and districts, and potential aspiring principals. The role of the elementary school principal continues to be multifaceted, and findings demonstrate and highlight the need for emotional intelligence training, supports that target the mental well-being of principals, and understanding of the additional impact of the labor and toll the COVID-19 pandemic had on the participants. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]