Pause within

This chapter describes my experience in facilitating a transformative dialogue in a large University system with entrenched mistrust and bureaucratic rigidity. At each stage, an appreciative approach proved critical in bringing about conversations that built bridges of trust and collaborating across silos. With a brief overview of the larger initiative, the AI summit is described here in detail. It introduces one of the Drench processes i.e. Pause Within. Pause within is to stop, reflect on the present before letting it go and open arms to embrace the future. The Research triangle exercise in this chapter explains how ceasing within allows for a new way of engagement and collaboration between Researchers, Research Guides and Administrators. The paper concludes with some reflections on the process and its longer-term impact.