7.2Preliminary problem diagnosis

The preliminary diagnosis should start from the moment the consultant is in touch with the client. Everything is relevant: who made the initial contact and how; how the consultant is received at the first meeting; what sort of questions the client asks; if there are any undertones in those questions; what the client says about the business and his competitors; if the client is relaxed or tense; and so on. The consultant has to sort out this information and then complete the picture by getting some hard data and looking at the problem from new angles – for example, by talking to people other than those involved in the first meetings.

Scope of the diagnosis

The purpose of the preliminary problem diagnosis is not to propose measures for solving the problem, but to define and plan a consulting assignment or project which will have this effect. The scope of the preliminary diagnosis is limited to a quick gathering and analysis of essential information which, according to the consultant’s experience and judgement, is needed to understand the problem correctly, to see it in the wider context of the client organization’s activities, achievements, goals, and other existing or potential business and management problems, and realistically to assess opportunities for helping the client.

The scale of this preliminary diagnosis depends very much on the nature of the problem. Very specific and technical issues do not normally require a comprehensive survey of the whole client organization. On the other hand, the consultant must avoid the trap of accepting a client’s narrow definition of a problem as technical without looking into the constraints and factors that may impede the solution of that problem, or may show that the problem is much more or much less serious than the client thinks. Therefore even if the problem lies in one functional area only, or concerns the application of some specific techniques, the consultant should always be interested in the more general characteristics of the client organization.

If the consultant is brought in to deal with a general and major problem, such as deteriorating financial results, or inability to maintain the same pace of innovation as competitors, a general and comprehensive diagnosis or management survey of the client organization is essential.