At Bird & Bird law firm, every employee has completed a WorkPlace Big Five profile. This personality-based insight helps the organization recognize and value individual strengths, improve teamwork, and navigate conflict situations more constructively.

“The more we learn to leverage our people’s diverse strengths, the better we perform together,” says Maija Fast, HR Manager at Bird & Bird.

Having worked in organizations across various industries, Fast has observed that in workplaces dominated by professionals from the same field– such as lawyers, engineers, or finance experts– there’s often a tendency to focus only on the strengths stereotypically associated with that profession. For lawyers, for instance, this might mean an emphasis on precision.

“Of course, lawyers must learn to be precise. But it’s also valuable to have team members who see the bigger picture,” Fast explains. “We lose a great deal of potential if we don’t know how to harness the variety of strengths that individuals bring. We are different, and our differences are our strength.”

Putting Motivation on the Table

“Utilizing individual strengths leads to higher motivation and greater enthusiasm at work,” says Fast. “Over the course of my career, I’ve seen people become unmotivated, underperform, or even burn out when they aren’t able to use their strengths. I believe that everyone should have enough of what energizes them on their desk – this helps sustain even those aspects of work that may feel less inspiring.”

At Bird & Bird, different strengths are made visible through, among other things, the WorkPlace Big Five personality profiling.

Profiling the Entire Team

At Bird & Bird, every employee (i.e. over 100 persons), excluding trainees, has completed a WorkPlace Big Five Profile. The firm’s HR team became certified to use the tool in 2019, and since then, every new hire has completed the assessment. Although profiling is voluntary, Fast notes that everyone has wanted to do it.

“Lawyers especially appreciate that the tool is scientifically validated,” she adds.

Building Self-Knowledge and Team Understanding

The purpose of the profiling is not only to help individuals understand their own personality traits and strengths better, but also to offer insight into how others perceive them. The tool makes it easy to step into a colleague’s shoes.

Fast facilitates team workshops where team members physically position themselves along a line marked on the floor, according to different personality traits, such as detail-oriented people at one end and those who see the bigger picture at the other end.

“This gives the team a concrete visual of their similarities and differences,” Fast explains.

Seeing oneself and one’s own personality in relation to others has been an eye-opening experience for many.

“When someone works differently, it’s not because they’re difficult—they’re just different,” Fast says. “Or they get drained by very different things than I do. Getting to know each other’s personalities has brought team members closer together and made collaboration smoother.”

Supporting People Development

As an ACC-certified business coach, Fast also uses the WorkPlace Big Five Profile to support internal coaching at Bird & Bird. It’s easy when every employee already has a profile.

She often coaches individuals at various career turning points – for example, when being invited to become a partner or starting in a managerial position. Coachees may also include senior lawyers looking to re-energize their careers or employees going on or returning from parental leave. Recovery is a common theme in the coaching sessions.

“With the help of the tool, we can address what energizes people and what drains them, and then think about how to keep that in balance,” says Fast. “Or if someone takes a long time to recover or is highly perfectionistic, we can identify strategies for building a sustainable everyday life and preventing burnout.”

Occasionally, the tool has also been used to resolve conflicts. If there are differing views or work styles within the team, the WorkPlace Big Five Profile offers a neutral way to start the conversation, without pointing fingers.

“Often, people naturally begin to reflect on their own ways of working, whichopens up space for constructive dialogue,” Fast describes.

Growing International Interest

Interest in the WorkPlace Big Five has extended beyond Finland, with Bird & Bird using it internationally as well.

“We’ve used the tool both to support individuals and teams in Finland, and also in international settings—such as Nordic onboarding events for new employees,” Fast explains. “When we started using the WorkPlace Big Five Profile, exploring personality was still relatively new in our field. Now, it’s an everyday tool for us.”

WorkPlace Big Five: A Strategic Tool for HR

Helps leverage employee strengths.
Supports the development of team collaboration and communication.
Assists in resolving conflicts constructively.

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Maija Fast is an experienced HR professional who has worked in several Finnish and international companies. She is also an ACC-certified business coach and author of a book on creative leadership: CREATE Crack the Cast – Become the Creative Leader You Want to Be.