Academic institutions are challenged today from both without and within. A number of factors combine to put unprecedented pressure on administration and faculty, often leading to dysfunctional behaviors at the departmental level. Administrators, Deans, and Chairs often lack the organizational and interpersonal tools to guide departments through their issues, leading to an escalation of problems over time leading to crisis. This paper describes a method for gathering data from departments, divisions, and areas, analyzing it and displaying it using the tools of Systems Thinking, which in combination with skillful guidance and coaching, has achieved consistently positive results in bringing departments back into organizational and interpersonal health, effectiveness, and sense of well-being.
