If someone reports something or management has an inkling something inappropriate is going on, they have a legal duty to investigate—and it should be addressed right away.

Early in the movie Argo, Ben Affleck’s character Tony Mendez describes the dangers of rescuing the American hostages. He tells the assembled government decision-makers: You don’t want to be in a position of needing to sneak people out of a hostile country, but if you are, you use a professional.

Columinate consultant Sarah Dahl is a professional. She has twenty years’ of experience, twelve of them in human resources and project management at Willy Street Co-op in Madison, Wisconsin, followed by eight years with Columinate. In addition to her other services, Dahl helps co-ops that are dealing with serious investigations of internal issues. These can include sexual harassment, financial mismanagement, embezzlement, employee grievances, and inappropriate management or board actions. Co-op leaders who find themselves in such a position want someone with experience, expertise, and a perspective from outside their co-op.

“The benefit of using an outside consultant is that there is often not a lot of internal experience with these situations, simply because they are uncommon,” explains Dahl. “It’s helpful having someone outside of the co-op do these investigations, as opposed to the HR manager, who reports to the GM. If they know the people involved, they likely have preconceived notions. Having an objective perspective is super helpful.”

Co-ops can be legally and financially liable for any harassment or discrimination that they should have known about. If someone reports something or management has an inkling something inappropriate is going on, they have a legal duty to investigate.

“It needs to happen quickly. If someone makes a complaint, it should be addressed right away. [In some cases] I’ve gotten results back to the co-op the same day. That’s not always doable, but I’ll prioritize these cases over everything else,” says Dahl.

The road to this work for Dahl began when she was working at a non-profit law firm and heard about a job opening at the Willy Street Co-op. “I actually took a pay cut to join the co-op,” she laughed. Willy Street seemed like a cool place to work with like-minded people, and it also provided an opportunity to break into human resources. Dahl got her HR certification while working there and also stretched into a variety of projects around the store that interested her.

“I was able to take on project management, like starting an online ordering platform,” she explained. Dahl became the project manager for Willy Street’s second location, which opened in 2010. She said the ability to learn new skills was both encouraged by the co-op and kept her work engaging. She also worked on opening a commissary kitchen for the stores, including putting together a HACCP plan. Willy Street let her take classes in project management to support her professional growth.

There were challenges, including communicating to members when the volunteer member program was ended by the co-op. The membership was upset by the change, but Dahl helped navigate the process with open and honest communication. Even with some bumps, the growth of Willy Street Co-op during Dahl’s tenure continued on an upward trajectory. When Dahl started with the co-op there were 90 employees, and by the time she left twelve years later there were over 350.

Doing consulting work through Columinate that built upon her myriad professional experiences seemed like a natural fit for Dahl. “My favorite thing about working through Columinate is that there are no restrictions. We don’t have a corporate template we’re working from. If anyone wants something a specific way, I can help in the way the client store wants. It’s very customizable. We’re free to make whatever we want to have happen happen.”

In addition to her consulting services on serious investigations, Dahl offers a variety of HR services. “Compensation has been a focus in my time as a consultant. Creating equitable pay scales within budget constraints is important. It starts with a conversation to learn about the business. Some stores might want an employee survey or pay scale review as a part of the process.”

Dahl also does harassment prevention training. “I see some common situations in my work with harassment cases. I find in those cases that people weren’t necessarily reporting what had been happening. Things aren’t being brought up that can be addressed before they get worse. Why aren’t people reporting? Let’s practice ways of making people more comfortable. What do you do if someone reports you? Giving people practice with those tools is very helpful. Prevention is key. Get things brought up and in the open, so they don’t happen under the radar for years.”

In HR, it’s mostly about trying to make your store a good place to work for the employees within the confines of the business restriction. Make it a more equitable place to work, and you can get more engaged employees.

Dahl’s experience in her own time as a human resources manager and the situations she has helped to resolve as a consultant make her an invaluable resource available to co-ops. Whether you’re looking to install good HR practices that can help prevent a serious investigation, or you find your store in need of one, having help from someone like Dahl can be critical.

Co-op managers and boards work hard to avoid difficult situations. But if you need an internal investigation, take it from Dahl: You don’t want to do it by yourself.