This article is about the work consultants do with their clients, the way we think and talk with them and the way we think and talk with one another. Management and consulting grew up with a focus on the organization ("the zation"). We want consultants and their clients to pay attention to their organizing ("zing"). A variety of factors have made that distinction visible and a shift in paradigms desirable. One is awareness of the complexity of organizational problems. Another is a growing body

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... f work on practice. Paying attention to zing means new possibilities for practice, but the shift comes at a price: rethinking what it means to be a consultant and changing the expectations of both clients and consultants. Are You Thinking About Zing? Does this story seem familiar? A senior vice-president (SVP) in a small corporation called me (Jennifer) for help. As part of a recent divisional reorganization, a unit had been newly created to deal with issues that had plagued his division for years. The new unit was in the process of getting its focus and vision, still figuring out what its work was, when there was a sense of increasing discord in the whole division. The reorganization had pulled people off the work they were doing. Everyone was feeling pinched and irritable. To the SVP, the potential for conflict was rife and lines of communication were disintegrating. He worried that unless people learned how to deal with their disagreements, new silos would spring up that were worse than the ones the reorganization was designed to dismantle. He thought some kind of retreat would be just what the group needed. Together, we decided on a joint focus: making sense of the new structure that was in place and building skills around listening to one another and dealing with inevitable conflict. We picked a date, the client found a venue, and I bought my plane ticket. The first day of the retreat was fantastic. The group was much less divided than I had feared and they were eager to learn new skills and tools. It was not until the end of the first day that I heard the murmurs about two of the members of the group, both from the newly created unit. By the end of the morning session on the second day, the animosity between these individuals was obvious. They interacted tersely, speaking in clipped, polite tones in front of the