For Fractional and Internal HR Leaders
Walk Into Your Next Interview Already Knowing What to Say
Use The Investigation Play instead – Seven AI-powered skills built from 19 years of casework, so you never have to face the hardest conversation in a complaint without the right words ready.
Intake Companion
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Manager Escalation Gate
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Investigation Planner
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Interview Guide Builder
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Investigation Notes & Evidence Companion
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Red Flag Spotter
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Findings & Close-Out Builder
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Intake Companion ✳︎ Manager Escalation Gate ✳︎ Investigation Planner ✳︎ Interview Guide Builder ✳︎ Investigation Notes & Evidence Companion ✳︎ Red Flag Spotter ✳︎ Findings & Close-Out Builder ✳︎
Dear HR and ER Practitioner,
You know the moment. Someone knocks, or a hotline report lands in your inbox, and the clock starts before you've finished reading it.
Now you're deciding, fast: is this conduct or performance? Does it have to be escalated? What can you actually promise the person who just asked you to keep it quiet? And underneath all of it, the question that follows you through the whole case: if this file got pulled into a dispute a year from now, would it hold up?
Most practitioners build the instinct for this the hard way. A confidentiality promise made too early that has to get walked back. A witness list that started with the accused because it felt efficient. Notes that read more like a verdict than a record. An interview question that collected agreement instead of facts. None of it comes from carelessness. It comes from running case after case without a system built to catch the moment before it becomes a problem.
Whether you're a fractional HR or ER consultant carrying a caseload across multiple clients, the person inside a company who owns ER along with everything else, or a manager who just found out something landed on your desk that you're not sure what to do with, the stakes are the same. The file has to be clean. The process has to be fair to everyone in it. And you don't get a second try at the first interview.
The Investigation Play was built to hold that line for you, every time.
Why I Built This
I've spent 19 years inside HR and talent functions at companies like Target, Cisco, AppDynamics, and DataRobot, and I've sat on both sides of a case file: the one that held up when it was questioned, and the one that didn't because the trail behind it wasn't strong enough.
I've watched a good complaint get mishandled in the first five minutes, not from bad intent, but from a well meaning promise of secrecy that couldn't be kept. I've watched notes get written as verdicts instead of records, and seen what that costs the moment someone outside the room has to read them.
I've learned, case by case, that the difference between a defensible investigation and an exposed one usually comes down to a handful of decisions made in the first hour, and the discipline to hold the line through every hour after that.
The Investigation Play is that discipline, built into skills you can lean on the moment a complaint lands.
Sara Rodgers
Performance Management Consultant
Here's How It Works
The Investigation Play is a set of seven interconnected AI skills that cover the full arc of a workplace investigation, from the moment a concern is raised to the day the file closes. Each skill knows its job and stays in its lane, and the system hands a case off cleanly as it moves from intake to planning to interviews to findings, instead of forcing you to start over at every stage.
Two doors lead in. If a complaint comes to you directly, the Intake Companion runs that conversation the way a certified investigator would: calm, neutral, and specific, with the words that trigger a legal duty to act flagged the moment they show up. If a manager is the one who heard something first, the Manager Escalation Gate gives them the script for what to report and, just as important, what never to do next: no DIY investigating, no quiet promises, no discipline before ER is looped in.
From there, the Investigation Planner turns a heard complaint into a real plan (scope mapped to policy, witnesses sequenced on purpose, evidence preserved before it disappears), the Interview Guide Builder drafts the questions for every seat at the table, and the Investigation Notes & Evidence Companion keeps the file clean as it's built: same day notes, an evidence log, a chronology that holds up. The Red Flag Spotter sits alongside the whole process as a second set of eyes, checking for retaliation exposure, prejudgment language, and the moments that call for counsel. And when the evidence is in, the Findings & Close-Out Builder writes the report and scripts both conversations that end the case.
These skills are opinionated on purpose. Ask one to promise total confidentiality and it will rewrite the line instead. Ask it to interview the accused first because it's faster, and it will decline and tell you why. Ask it to soften a finding because someone upstairs wants a different answer, and it will hold the line and point you to counsel instead. That's not friction. That's the system protecting the case, and protecting you.
None of this replaces you.
AI can hold structure, memory, and neutrality in a way that's hard to sustain case after case on your own, but it can't sit in the room, read what's underneath someone's pause, or decide what's fair for the specific people in front of you. That's still you. The Investigation Play is built to make you faster and more consistent walking into that room, not to take your place in it.
Here's What You Get
Seven Claude Skills, each built for a specific moment in the life of a case.
Intake Companion
Runs the intake conversation right: triages conduct versus performance, spots the words that create a legal duty to act, and gets a clean, fact-only note into the file the same day.
Investigation Planner
Turns a heard complaint into a real plan: every allegation mapped to policy, witnesses sequenced on purpose (never the accused first), and evidence preserved before it disappears.
Investigation Notes & Evidence Companion
Turns a messy post-interview brain dump into a same-day, fact-only note, plus the evidence log and chronology that make the whole file defensible
Manager Escalation Gate
Gives a manager who just heard something the exact script: what has to be reported, what they must never promise, and why handling it themselves is the one move that turns a fixable problem into exposure.
Interview Guide Builder
Builds the interview guide for every seat at the table, complainant, witness, or the accused, with admonitions given verbatim and leading questions rewritten on sight.
Red Flag Spotter
A second set of eyes before you act: scans for retaliation exposure, conflicts of interest, and prejudgment language, and tells you plainly when there's nothing to flag.
Findings & Close-Out Builder
Writes the findings report allegation by allegation and scripts both close-out conversations, without ever drifting into legal conclusions or announcing discipline that isn't yours to announce
Note: These skills are built for Claude, and that's the environment where they run best. If you're working in ChatGPT, we can still support you in adapting the entire process, so don't let that stop you from reaching out.
Imagine Your Next Complaint With This Already in Place
A concern lands and you know exactly how to open the conversation, and exactly what you can and can't promise the person telling it to you.
The plan builds itself around what was actually alleged instead of what feels efficient. Every note gets written the same day, in facts, not verdicts. By the time you sit down with the accused, you already have the specifics in hand instead of a polished denial you can't get past.
The weight of the work doesn't disappear. These are still hard conversations about real people. But the guesswork does.
You walk into every case with a system built by someone who has run this exact process, instead of just your own instinct and whatever you remember from the last one.
How The Investigation Play Works
Step 1 – 10 Minutes
Get the Skills in Place
Install the seven Skills into your Claude workspace. No setup beyond that. They're ready before your next 1:1.
Step 2 – 2 Minutes
Handle the Intake or the Escalation
A complaint comes to you directly, or a manager brings you something they heard. Either way, the right skill already knows the script.
Step 3 – as needed
Plan, Interview, and Document the Case
Scope the allegations, sequence the witnesses, build each interview guide, and keep the notes and evidence log current as the case moves. The Red Flag Spotter is there any time you want a second look before you act.
Step 4 – 5 Minutes
As the Evidence Comes In: Close It Clean
Write the findings, allegation by allegation, and deliver both close-out conversations with the retaliation door left open. The file is complete before it's ever archived.
This is for you if…
You're a fractional HR or ER consultant running investigations across multiple clients and need a process you can trust without rebuilding it every time
You're the person inside a company who owns employee relations along with everything else, and investigations land on your desk without a system behind them
You're a people leader trying to make sure a complaint gets handled the same careful way regardless of who receives it first, HR or a manager
You're tired of guessing whether your notes, your witness order, or your findings would hold up if the file were ever questioned
You want your managers to know exactly what to report and what never to do on their own, before the next concern lands on their desk
You believe an investigation should be fair to everyone in it, not just efficient for you
This is not for you if you're looking for a tool that decides the case for you. The Investigation Play equips your process and your judgment. It doesn't replace either one, and it isn't legal advice. You're still the one running the case.
Promising confidentiality you can't actually deliver, and having to walk it back later
Guessing whether your notes would hold up if the file ever got pulled into a dispute
Interviewing the accused first and getting a polished denial you can't get past
Watching conclusions creep into your notes before the facts have finished coming in
Rebuilding an interview guide from scratch for every witness, every case
Missing the moment a case actually needed counsel in the room
And the Best News Is – You Don’t Have to Do Any of This…
Clean, Defensible Investigations, Every Time
Your next complaint is coming, whether the process is ready for it or not. Get the system in place before it lands.
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Treat case details the way you would in any working file: use initials, role titles, or placeholder names instead of real names for anyone involved. The skills don't need a real name to function, they need the facts and the pattern. I'll also show you how to turn off any publicly facing connection to the AI training models, so the people in your cases stay protected.
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No. The Investigation Play equips your process with structure, language, and consistency. You're still the one reading the room, weighing credibility, and deciding what's fair for the people in front of you.
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No, but this isn't a substitute for that training either. The Investigation Play helps you run a more defensible, more consistent process. For high-risk, high-exposure, or complex cases, especially anything touching violence, criminal conduct, or senior leaders, loop in outside counsel or a certified investigator alongside these skills, not instead of your own judgment.
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Yes. The system is built around the arc of a single case, not around managing multiple clients. Whether you're handling one investigation a year or several at once, the same structure applies.
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Not this Play. The Investigation Play is built for conduct and complaint driven cases: harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and the like. If what's in front of you is a performance issue with no conduct dimension, that's the Performance Play's lane, and several of these skills will route you there directly.
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No. The Investigation Play helps you run a consistent, well-documented process and gives you language for hard conversations, but it isn't a substitute for employment counsel. Several of the skills are built to flag when a case has moved into territory that calls for counsel, and to route you there before the next step.
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Some of the legal framing (duty to investigate, at-will employment norms, the more-likely-than-not standard) is built around U.S. employment practice. If you're operating in another jurisdiction, review the underlying legal assumptions with local counsel before relying on these skills as-is.
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These skills are built for Claude, and that's the environment where they run best. If you're working in ChatGPT, we can still support you in adapting the process, so that shouldn't stop you from reaching out.
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Due to the nature of this as a digital product, no refunds are allowed. However, if you're not getting the full value from these skills, reach out and I'll make sure you've set up everything correctly and that they're working the way they should inside your organization.
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Your purchase is for a single license of the Investigation Play. To unlock these skills for multiple co-workers, please purchase one license for each. If you have more than five people in your company who'd like to use this, please reach out for bulk pricing.
Things to Know As You Get Started
Final Words
I built The Investigation Play because I've seen how much rides on the first hour of a case, and how rarely anyone walks in with a real system behind them.
You already have the judgment this work requires. This makes sure you never have to run a case without the structure to back it up.
Sara Rodgers
SaraRodgersConsulting.com