Management Consulting: Diagnose Business Problems

Use issue trees, hypotheses and evidence to investigate client problems before making consulting recommendations.

Created byDr. Law Payne

Last updated 11/2026

English

What you'll learn

Frame the problem around a specific client decision.
Build an issue tree and form testable hypotheses about likely causes.
Choose and interpret evidence that can change the diagnosis.
Synthesize findings into an actionable recommendation and review plan.

Course content

2 sections • 10 lectures • 1h 49m total length

The Decision and the First Useful Result10:24
Investigate a bookings decline before committing to training. Use Juniper’s worksheet to reproduce booking rates for two quarters and identify what the reported 20% decline measures. Model twenty replacement leads at each observed rate to see what a volume intervention could recover.
Problem Framing in Practice11:34
Translate Juniper’s training request into a measurable business decision. Use the worksheet to define your counting rules, calculate booking rates by channel, and estimate expected bookings at earlier rates. Explain which comparison would help the sponsor choose an intervention.
Issue Trees and the Evidence Behind It11:16
Build an issue tree that separates lead volume from booking rates. Reproduce Juniper’s booking comparison and write three explanations for fewer recorded referrals. For each explanation, identify an observation that could weaken it.
Hypotheses Without Hidden Assumptions11:06
Test competing explanations for Juniper’s booking decline. Reconcile the qualified referral counts under two screening rules, then compare booking rates for timely and delayed responses overall and within priority groups. Use the worksheet to state what each comparison supports.
The Foundation Case and Your First Deliverable10:44
Prepare a diagnostic brief that a sponsor can act on. Reconcile bookings and referral screening, explain what each comparison supports, and reconstruct the assignment audit. Use the workshop worksheet to calculate how many relevant cases the flag caught and how accurate the flags were.

Evidence Through a Worked Case10:48
Reconcile forty-four partner rows with forty CRM records. Use the evidence worksheet to build the matched and unmatched groups, explain why the plausible count ranges from 36 to 39, and show how your conclusion changes at counts of 37 and 38.
Synthesis and Practical Constraints10:38
Turn Juniper’s findings into three separate decisions. Match each finding to the choice it informs, calculate daily completions and overflow, and estimate the backup time needed. Use the worksheet to explain what staff can test within the proposed limits.
Implementation Review and Progress Checks10:40
Review Juniper’s ownership pilot using two eligible cohorts. Compare on-time response rates with rates calculated only among completed responses, then estimate adherence and staff effort. Specify the urgent escalation trigger and what evidence it can establish.
A Second Case With a Different Constraint10:57
Diagnose late installation appointments in the Larkspur case. Calculate appointment performance, explain how it differs from kit dispatch, and reconcile fourteen late orders. Use the worksheet to test both access scenarios before recommending a response.
The Complete Application Workshop11:14
Recommend a bounded action for each client. Reconcile Juniper’s referral and ownership findings, then calculate trial capacity and overflow. For Larkspur, reconcile late orders, compare the access and staffing scenarios, and state what each client should authorize.

Requirements

Bring a business problem or use the fictional case and downloadable exercises.

Description

This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.

The client says their sales team needs more leads. What would you ask before agreeing?

A referral program can look like the obvious answer until you find out that inquiries are being routed to the wrong team. A consultant earns trust by clarifying what the client needs to decide and finding evidence that could change that decision. I built this course to help you do both.

What you’ll build

A diagnostic question that ties the investigation to a decision the sponsor actually owns.
An issue tree and testable hypotheses you can use to direct interviews and data requests.
An evidence matrix that separates verified findings from assumptions you still need to test.
A recommendation that accounts for the team’s capacity, the limits of the evidence, and the conditions for implementation.

Who I designed this for

This course is for aspiring and practicing consultants, business analysts, and managers who are asked to investigate problems that arrive with an explanation already attached. The cases give you room to practice before you need to challenge a sponsor’s assumptions in a real meeting.

How you’ll practice

I’m Dr. Law Payne. I drew on my graduate training in business to design the diagnostic worksheets and worked examples. You’ll use them to test competing explanations, interpret incomplete records, and show what your findings can support.

Enroll and bring one client or team problem you’re trying to understand. By the end, you’ll have a structured way to investigate it and explain your recommendation.

Who this course is for:

Consultants, analysts, and business leaders who need to diagnose problems before recommending action.

Management Consulting: Diagnose Business Problems

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Foundations and First Decisions5 lectures • 55min

Applied Practice and Case Workshop5 lectures • 54min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: