We addressed that particular problem by hiring a vice president with thick skin and good people skills. The employees interacted with the VP, and the owner limited his jerk reactions to the privacy of the VP's office. The moral of this story is that, most of the time, there are a variety of open issues that need to be addressed. Some won't surface immediately because the client is uncomfortable talking about them. Others won't surface in the beginning because the client will attempt to confine his or her concerns to areas in which he or she feels you have expertise.
Any most clients view our skills as far more narrow than they really are.
Therefore, we need to be prepared to bring out issues in a multitude of areas. That's why we came up with using global functions as a springboard for our investigation. Use these functional areas as a checklist in the investigative process. While this next statement sounds bad, it's human nature, not client intelligence that we are referring to. Clients rarely remember all of their problems.