Effective leadership is crucial for organizations to remain competitive in this expanding higher education environment as they lead their followers, especially those in their academic units or departments. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to describe the understanding of academic department chairs of U.S. colleges and universities regarding transformational leadership practices and how their transformational leadership practice affects their academic units. Transformational leadership theory served as the conceptual framework for this study. The sample for this study included 15 department chairs from U.S. colleges and universities who replied to the researcher's invitation on social media. This study used seven questions to collect the data to define the four main transformational leadership pillars or components of idealized influence or attributes, individualized consideration, inspirational motivation, and intellectual stimulation. All participants were willing to share strategies, techniques, experiences, or practices they embrace in their routines within their academic units. The research results showed that academic units or departments play a vital role in the success of higher education institutions, and the success of departments directly depends on their leader's effectiveness. Data were analyzed manually and using NVivo12 software in coding, organizing, and naming the themes. The technique of reflective thematic analysis created a framework for categorizing and combining meanings within a specific data environment. The methodology of the study was qualitative with a descriptive design. For confirmability, peer debriefing, also called analytic triangulation, was used to review the findings and ensure they made sense. As the researcher explored the perceptions of academic department chairs, significant findings or themes were generated that could be used as strategies by educational leaders, decision-makers, and policymakers to launch academic exercises that would transform universities' teaching and learning processes. Also, leaders of colleges and universities may realize the value and impact of their behaviors and actions on their different stakeholders. Overall, the educational community may find this study useful for improving the leadership practices of educational leaders within their organizations and their educational departments or units. [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.]