Objectives: Despite all the attention given in recent years to work intensification among school principals, little research has explored the practices and strategies that principals employ to meet their job expectations and demands and how they adapt to the increasingly uncertain and complex school reality. This qualitative study identifies practices and strategies that principals employ to meet their job expectations and adapt to their intensified work condition in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Framework: The study integrates self- and interpersonal leadership into a composite framework to guide the inquiry. Methods: Eighteen school principals in Metro Vancouver participated in one-hour semi-structured interviews and shared their comments on the changing nature of their work and strategies they use to go about doing their work amid work intensification. Results: The findings capture principals' skills and competencies that pertain to their personal and social competencies, including self awareness, self direction, social awareness, and relationship management. The findings also identify knowledge and skills that are necessary to prepare principals for their work and highlight strategies they use to gain a sense of being in control at work in a complex and changing work environment.