The Israel finance team and Manila GSC initially struggled after implementing a new system, with performance suffering. They analyzed the issues and realized low employee engagement was a problem. They adopted a "One Team" approach, where both teams worked as integral parts of the same team. This improved engagement and collaboration, leading to the Israel team reclaiming the top performance position. Working as a cohesive unified team was able to turn their performance around.

1. One Team’ — When Israel met Manila
By Byanne Rubio & Erwin Castillo
It takes a combined effort from the Manila GSC and the Israel Cluster to be a high performing
team
STORY
HIGHLIGHTS
• Israel’s
Finance team’s
performance
suffered
following FACT
go-live
• GSC part of
the team lacked
engagement
• The One
Team approach
turned things
around
• Israel back to
delivering high
It’s been a rollercoaster ride for the Israel–GSC
(Global Service Centre) relationship. From high
expectations to low morale and now back at the
top of the performance league; here’s their story.
Today, Israel is the number one cluster in terms of the
Finance performance indicators as shown on the ‘control
dashboard’. Presenting such performance is not an easy
task; it requires continuous effort, dedication and,
above all, a team effort —or as they call it, working as
one team.
But, at first, it wasn’t exactly smooth sailing according
to Alon Molahaimian, Israel Finance Manager.
“We have to understand that until June 2009 (FACT go
live) our performance was extremely good and the local
team was very proud. The FACT implementation went
very well, so, the expectations on the Manila GSC were
extremely high. We expected no less than what we were
used to: a great performance,” he states.

2. results
Email this
story to a
colleague
“Expectatio
ns on the
Manila GSC
were
extremely
high.”
-- Alon Molahaimian
Unfortunately, not everything went well in the aftermath
of the FACT go live. Both teams started to experience a
lot of uncertainties, frustration and, eventually,
complaints. A drastic drop in performance followed.
Improving employee engagement
“The more we got into the root cause analysis of service
delivery issues, the more we noted that there was one
important aspect in our operations that needed
strengthening: employee engagement,” recalls Willard
Mosquito, Manila GSC Finance Manager.
It was clear how both managers needed to act upon the
findings. The GSC needed to stop acting as a supplier
for the country while the cluster was to actively absorb
the GSC as an integral part of their own team. That is
how the ‘One Team’ approach was born. Just by
changing their approach on how they interacted, the
employees responded positively and engagement
improved considerably.
Both Molahaimian and Mosquito agree that being strict
on error identification is not the only important
performance driver; instead, proactively assisting with
solutions, never compromising on quality and constantly
rewarding good performance builds engagement and
should be part of the same process of integration.
Consistently high performance
Both teams started to grow together as one, making the
rest of the journey much easier. It was under this ‘one
team’ principle that the Israel Finance team has
managed to reclaim the number one position based on
the control dashboard results. In particular, the Dispute
Process implemented with the Manila team at the start
of the year turned all dashboard indicators green after
just one month. Israel can also point to consistently
high performance on working capital and risk
management — the core pillars of every healthy Finance
organisation.
The story of Israel and the Manila GSC is proof for any
Maersk Line cluster finance manager that to improve
performance and efficiency within your department the
‘one team’ approach really works.

3. RELATED
ARTICLES
• One team,
one goal =
Win Again
LINKS
• Global
Service
Centres
Published
By
Maersk Line
Communicat
ion
Uploaded
By
RAR056
Published 2011.08.15
- 12:35
Last
Update
2011.08.15
- 12:33
Expires 2012.09.14
- 11:25