Levi Strauss & Co

Tiffani (Cage) Wollbrinck

Tiffani Wollbrinck is an experienced global HR executive specializing in data-driven talent management and organizational transformation. She is an expert in developing and implementing innovative talent strategies that align with corporate goals, enhance workforce capabilities and drive organizational success. She is proficient in leveraging data analytics and behavioral science to optimize talent processes to ensure a robust leadership pipeline, increased employee engagement and improved diversity and inclusion outcomes.

Professional Experiences Contributing to Success

I have a master’s degree in industrial organizational psychology and approximately two decades of experience in HR.

I serve as the senior director of global talent management at Levi Strauss & Co. My primary responsibilities include building a strong leadership pipeline, enhancing employee capabilities, and implementing equitable and effective processes and programs.

I also ensure that Levi Strauss & Co. possesses the necessary skills and capabilities to achieve long-term profitability. My team consists of nine professionals who focus on areas like leadership development, employee development, assessments, organizational surveys, and talent processes, which include talent review, succession planning, performance management, and career development.

Leveraging Modern Technologies for Talent Management and Leadership Development

Modern technologies have significantly advanced talent management and leadership development at Levi Strauss & Co. We use AI-powered tools like LinkedIn Learning, Qualtrics for surveys, Workday for human capital management, and Microsoft Copilot. These technologies have become standard across many companies, but what excites us is how we leverage our workforce to drive innovation and profitable growth.

One of our most exciting initiatives involves utilizing our retail workforce for short-term corporate assignments. It brings employees closest to our customers into corporate roles and provides valuable insights to support our direct-to-consumer strategy.

Retail employees use AI to enhance performance, conduct advanced data analytics, generate AI-driven recommendations, and automate routine tasks with GPTs. Our pilot program successfully enhanced skills by combining retail customer expertise with AI, helping to increase productivity, develop existing talent, and control labor costs.

Challenges in the Space

One significant challenge we face at Levi Strauss & Co. is maintaining our inclusive culture overtime. Ensuring that our processes are equitable and fair requires constant vigilance, as unfairness can erode trust, lower productivity, and lead to employee attrition. To address this, we’ve embedded equity into every aspect of our talent management and leadership development programs.

“Leaders should focus on developing AI prompting skills among their workforce to enhance adaptability, performance, and productivity. Encourage every employee to develop these skills and implement reward mechanisms for those who use AI effectively and responsibly.”

For performance management, we leverage data and analytics to provide real-time insights into potential rating disparities and offer leaders immediate feedback to drive more accurate performance assessments. This helps create consistency across the organization.

In talent reviews, we combine subjective nine-box ratings with objective assessments of potential by using intelligence and personality tests to predict performance and potential. This assists us in identifying high-potential employees more objectively and reduces bias.

For succession planning, we’ve created role profiles and defined consistent readiness ratings to clarify the skills and experiences needed for future roles, enabling more equitable succession decisions. We also design custom development plans to increase successor readiness. Scenario-based training has been developed to help leaders understand and address cognitive biases like affinity bias, halo effect and racial or gender biases.

Embracing Change

The future of HR operations will be increasingly data-driven and technology-enabled, with a strong emphasis on personalized employee experiences. At Levi Strauss & Co., we use AI to personalize HR processes and manager support to boost engagement and satisfaction. While technology helps optimize and personalize experiences, it is crucial to maintain the human component in HR to ensure empathy, connection, and understanding.

In the future, employees will crave compassion and care from humans, along with the speed and personalization that AI can provide. It is, therefore, essential to thoughtfully leverage technology to create more connection and commitment from employees. Our focus is on efficiently balancing the human touch and speed provided by AI-powered technology.

Advice to Leaders

My advice to other senior leaders navigating the evolving HR landscape is to view AI prompting skills as a core organizational capability. AI will become integral to all aspects of life and work and augment every role. AI is continuously evolving and adaptable, unlike other outdated technologies. Prompting and interacting with AI is crucial.

Leaders should focus on developing AI prompting skills among their workforce to enhance adaptability, performance, and productivity. Encourage every employee to develop these skills and implement reward mechanisms for those who use AI effectively and responsibly. This approach will enable practical AI implementations and help the organization remain agile and adaptive in achieving its long-term strategic objectives.