For Fractional and Internal HR Leaders
Stop Winging It With Your Hardest Performance Conversations
Use The Performance Play instead – 7 AI-powered skills built from real casework, for the moments performance management training never prepared you for
Performance Case Companion
✳︎
Low-Performance Conversation
✳︎
Manager Avoidance Check-In
✳︎
Skill-Gap vs. Will-Fit
✳︎
Real-Time Reaction Handler
✳︎
Formal PIP Builder
✳︎
Termination Conversation
✳︎
Performance Case Companion ✳︎ Low-Performance Conversation ✳︎ Manager Avoidance Check-In ✳︎ Skill-Gap vs. Will-Fit ✳︎ Real-Time Reaction Handler ✳︎ Formal PIP Builder ✳︎ Termination Conversation ✳︎
Dear Performance Management Practitioner,
You're in the room when it gets hard. A manager who's avoided a conversation for six months. An employee who breaks down mid-meeting. A PIP that needs to hold up if it ever gets questioned. A termination that has to be handled right the first time, because there is no second time.
Whether you're the fractional HR or ER consultant carrying a caseload across multiple clients, the talent leader inside a company building out the people function, or the manager at a startup who suddenly owns performance issues with no HR department behind you, the job is the same underneath: you're expected to have the right language, the right documentation, and the right judgment, on demand, in real time.
No one hands you a script for the moment an employee starts crying, or debating your data, or agreeing to everything and changing nothing.
Most of us build that instinct the hard way. Case by case. Mistake by mistake.
And even once you have it, you're still reinventing the wheel every time. A new coaching email. A new PIP draft. A new set of notes on whether this is a skill problem or a will problem.
It's slow, and it's inconsistent, and inconsistency is exactly what creates risk.
I built the The Performance Play to close that gap.
Why I Built This
I've spent 19 years inside HR and talent functions at companies like Target, Cisco, AppDynamics, DataRobot, sitting across the table from managers who meant well and still got it wrong, and from employees who deserved a clearer process than they got.
I've run the coaching conversations. I've built the PIPs that held up when they were challenged, and I've seen the ones that didn't because the trail behind them wasn't strong enough.
I've had the conversation where an employee is shocked, the one where they're angry, the one where they cry, and the one where they nod along and change nothing.
There's a pattern underneath almost every one of those moments, and once you've seen it enough times, you stop reacting and start recognizing.
The Performance Play isn't theory. It's the system I wish I'd had on my hardest days, built from the actual patterns I've seen play out again and again across real cases.
Sara Rodgers
Performance Management Consultant
Here's How It Works
The Performance Play is a set of seven interconnected AI skills that cover the full arc of a performance case, from the first quiet signal that something's off to the final closeout report. Each skill knows its job and stays in its lane. When a case moves from coaching to formal documentation, the system hands off cleanly instead of forcing you to start over.
At the center is the Performance Case Companion, the operational spine that tracks where a case stands and routes you to the right skill at the right moment. Around it sit specialized skills for the specific pressure points where cases usually go wrong: the manager who's avoiding the conversation, the moment a meeting goes sideways in real time, the diagnostic question of whether this is a skill gap or a will problem, the formal PIP document, and the termination conversation itself.
This isn't a library of templates you have to adapt. It's a system that already knows the difference between a first coaching conversation and a third one, between a PIP that's ready to draft and one that isn't, between language that protects the company and language that just sounds protective.
None of this replaces you.
AI can hold structure, memory, and consistency in a way that's hard to do case after case on your own, but it can't sit in the room, read the tone in someone's voice, or decide what's right for a specific person in a specific moment. That's still you. The Performance Play is built to make you more prepared and more confident 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 performance management lifecycle.
Performance Case Companion
Tracks every open case, tells you what phase you're in, and routes you to the right skill next, so nothing drifts or gets forgotten
Manager Avoidance Check-In
Names the avoidance pattern and gets a stalled manager moving again, without shaming them into defensiveness
Real-Time Reaction Handler
Gives you the exact line to say when a conversation goes sideways in the moment: tears, anger, debate, or shutdown
Termination Conversation
Plans the final conversation with direct, unsoftened language that respects the employee and protects the company
Low-Performance Conversation
Equips managers with direct, respectful language for the first hard conversation, before avoidance sets in
Skill-Gap vs. Will-Fit
Diagnoses whether the real issue is capability, motivation, or wrong seat, so the next step actually fits the problem
Formal PIP Builder
Drafts the Performance Improvement Plan and delivery script, but only once the documented coaching trail actually supports it
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 Case With This Already in Place
You open a new case and know exactly where to start. The manager gets language that actually works instead of a vague “have a conversation with them.” When the meeting goes off script, you already have the line ready. When it's time to formalize things, you're not scrambling to remember whether the coaching trail is strong enough. You already know.
The emotional weight doesn't disappear. Performance conversations are still hard. But the guesswork does. You walk into every case with a system behind you instead of just instinct, and that changes how confident you feel and how consistent your work looks to the people relying on you.
How The Performance Play Works
Step 1 – 10 Minutes
Get the Skills in Place
Step 2 – 2 Minutes
Open
a Case
Step 3 – as needed
Use the Right Skill at the Right Moment
Step 4 – 5 Minutes
Close the Case Cleanly
Install the seven skills into your Claude workspace. No setup beyond that; they're ready to use on your very next case.
Paste your case intake, whatever you already have, and let the Performance Case Companion parse it, flag anything that needs escalation, and tell you where things stand.
As the case moves, whether that's prepping a manager for a conversation, handling a live reaction, or diagnosing skill vs. will, the right skill is already built for that exact moment. You're never starting from a blank page – and The Performance Play already knows which Skill to use when.
When the case resolves, whether through coaching success, a PIP, or a termination, the system compiles a final report and closeout communication, so the record is clean and the next case starts fresh.
This is for you if…
You're a fractional HR or ER consultant managing performance cases across multiple clients and need consistency you can trust without rebuilding your process every time
You're a talent leader inside a company, building out the people function, and performance management keeps landing on your desk without a system behind it
You're a manager at a startup or smaller company who's suddenly responsible for performance issues with no HR department to lean on
You're tired of guessing whether a coaching trail is strong enough to support a PIP, or finding out the hard way
You want documentation that would hold up if it were ever questioned, without hiring outside counsel to check every email
You believe performance conversations should be handled with structure and dignity, not instinct and hope
This is not for you if you're looking for a fully automated tool that removes your judgment from the process. The Performance Play equips your judgment, it doesn't replace it. You're still the one in the room.
And the Best News Is – You Don’t
Have to Do Any of This…
No rebuilding a coaching email or PIP draft from scratch for every single case
No guessing whether your documentation would hold up if it were ever pulled into a dispute
No winging a difficult conversation live and hoping the right words come to you
No hiring outside counsel to review every message before you send it
No reinventing your process every time you take on a new client or a new case
No wondering whether a manager's avoidance has quietly become your legal exposure
2025
New York
The Atlast Project →
“Communication was top-notch and the final outcome was even better than we imagined. A great experience all around.”
Former Customer
Things to Know As You Get Started
-
Treat case details the way you would in any working file: use initials, role titles, or made-up placeholder names instead of real employee names when you're working through a case. The skills don't need a real name to function, they need the pattern and the facts. I'll also show you how to turn off any publicly facing connection to the AI training models, so your team members' privacy is maintained.
-
No. The Performance Play equips your judgment with language, structure, and consistency, it doesn't make decisions for you. You're still the one reading the room, weighing the specifics, and deciding what's right for the case in front of you.
-
Yes. The system is built around the arc of a single performance case, not around managing multiple clients. Whether you're handling one case a year or twenty at once, the same structure applies.
-
Most people feel the difference on their very next case. You're not learning a new methodology from scratch, you're bringing a tool into a conversation you were already going to have, so the first real payoff usually happens the first time you use it under pressure.
-
No. If you can copy and paste text into a chat window, you can use these skills. There's no software to install beyond having access to Claude, and we'll walk you through getting set up.
-
No. The Performance Play helps you build consistent, well-documented processes 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 situation has moved beyond performance management into legal or compliance territory, and to route you toward getting the right professional involved at that point.
-
Some of the legal framing (PIPs, at-will termination language) is built around U.S. employment norms. If you're operating in another jurisdiction, you'll want to review the underlying legal assumptions with local counsel before using the formal documentation skills as-is.
-
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.
-
You have 30 days to try it out. If you're not feeling more confident and more efficient in how you're handling these conversations, request your money back.
Final Words
I built The Performance Play because I got tired of watching good managers and good practitioners struggle through the same hard moments without the tools to handle them well. You already have the judgment. This just makes sure you never have to face the hardest conversations without the right words ready.
Sara Rodgers
SaraRodgersConsulting.com