By Jenny Snider

Introduction: Leadership in the Age of Overwhelm

Leadership is a gift, but it’s also a weight. If you’re leading an I/DD agency, you know how heavy it can feel—clients depending on you, families trusting you, staff looking to you for direction, and regulators expecting you to meet every standard. Add in endless paperwork and daily crises, and the urgent quickly drowns out the important.

But here’s the truth: great leaders don’t wait for the overwhelm to disappear. They choose habits that keep them grounded in the middle of it.

Leadership is influence—and your influence only grows stronger when your inner life is steady. These five habits have helped leaders within our own community stay centered, connected, and capable of leading well, even in the most demanding seasons.

Habit 1: Start with Centering, Not Checking

The way you start your day sets the tone for everything that follows. Too often, leaders begin by checking—emails, schedules, fires that need to be put out. But wise leaders begin by centering.

That might mean prayer, journaling, gratitude practice, or sitting quietly with coffee in hand. Whatever the form, centering fills your heart before the demands of the day start pulling it apart.

Question for thought – How would a culture that honors centering first change your day and possibly even you organization?

Habit 2: Lead With “Yes” Energy

Your team will catch more from your presence than from your policies. If you carry discouragement, stress, or defeat into the room, it spreads. If you show up with hope, encouragement, and vision, that spreads too.

We call it “yes” energy; the willingness to believe the best, to invite possibilities, and to remind your team that the mission is still worth giving their all to. Leadership isn’t just about the words you speak—it’s about the spirit you carry.

Habit 3: Calendar the Important

Overwhelm takes over when the urgent dictates your schedule. Great leaders reverse that order. They calendar the important first—time with their people, opportunities to coach and encourage, vision-setting meetings, and moments of renewal.

When the most important pieces are locked into your calendar, the urgent has to fit around them, not the other way around. This habit protects both your mission and your personal health.

Habit 4: Share the Load, Multiply the Trust

Delegation is more than just handing off tasks. It’s an act of trust and a tool for growth. When you empower others to lead, you don’t just free up your own time—you multiply the capacity of your agency.

We’ve seen again and again that when leaders give responsibility with clear guidance and encouragement, staff rise to the occasion. The load gets lighter, the culture gets stronger, and everyone wins.

Habit 5: Protect the Pause

Wise leaders don’t just push forward—they pause. They pause before responding in conflict. They pause to reflect on what went well after a hard week. They pause to notice the small victories others might miss.

The pause is not weakness. It’s wisdom. Protecting the pause allows you to lead with clarity instead of reactivity, with steadiness instead of exhaustion.

Leadership That Lasts

Burnout doesn’t have to be your story. By choosing to center yourself, lead with “yes” energy, calendar the important, share the load, and protect the pause, you’ll find yourself grounded even in seasons of overwhelm.

We’ve seen these habits transform not only the way leaders work, but the way they live. And when leaders thrive, agencies thrive as do the people they serve.

Reflection for Leaders: Which of these five habits could change your leadership if you started practicing it this week?