Merete Lie Holen, COO and GBS Manager of Odfjell Drilling Philippines, has a background in shared services that began in 2015. She oversees a captive shared services center and aims to expand the scope of work while ensuring quality deliverables. Holen emphasizes the importance of communication and engagement among her team to achieve continuous improvement and competitive advantage in the oil & gas market.

2. Q&A with:
Merete Lie Holen
Chief Operating Officer / GBS Manager
Odfjell Drilling Philippines

3. What’s your shared services background?
e.g. What is your role within your SSC? How long have you
worked in shared services? What type of centre do you work
in (Captive, Hybrid, Outsourced)?
“My background in shared services started when I moved to
Manila in 2015, and became the COO/GBS Manager of Odfjell
Drilling Philippines.
We are a captive shared services centre,
supporting counterparts in all our locations.”
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4. What’s your shared services background?
e.g. What is your role within your SSC? How long have you
worked in shared services? What type of centre do you work
in (Captive, Hybrid, Outsourced)?
“My role involves the administrative tasks of running the company as
COO, as well as being the coordinator for all of the shared services
functions as GBS Manager.
Each function reports to me locally, and to each of their global
function leads within their specific field of work. I work closely with
the global function leads to facilitate further development and
growth within our shared services model.”
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5. How long have you been working in shared
services and what was your path into
the industry?
“I have been in shared services for one year, before that I worked as
an in-house lawyer for Odfjell Drilling in Bergen, and before that I
was a Corporate/M&A lawyer based in Oslo.
I ended up in Manila because I wanted to
experience something new, and learn more about
the commercial side of running a business.”
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6. What has been your biggest challenge in
your shared services career and how did
you overcome it?
“Our biggest challenge is to expand our
scope of work, moving more tasks to our
Manila office.
It’s still very much a work in progress,
but we are getting there.”
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7. What is the best aspect of your role/what
do you enjoy most about it?
“It’s very fulfilling to see people develop both as individuals and
professionals. Making them understand what we’re all about
and how we can succeed.
My best experience so far is having counterparts that were
skeptical at first, sending me an e-mail and asking me to hire
more people because they see the value added to their
operation.”
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8. What is your shared services centre’s
biggest achievement and how did you get
there?
“Our finance department has been through a bit of a journey. Today
they are starting to handle more complex tasks and end-to-end
processes. This is a big achievement because it’s far away from how
things have been handled in the company traditionally.
The success factors are definitely ownership
and commitment from stakeholders, training
and presence.”
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9. What are your three main goals for
the next 12 months?
“1. Secure growth and increased scope of work
2. Ensure quality in deliverables
3. Become an integrated partner in the group”
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10. What motivates you and keeps you
engaged in your role?
“Our company, together with many others, is in a challenging
situation due to the global decline in the oil & gas market. Our
shared services set-up provides us with a cost efficient model for
our support services.
I know that if we are able to succeed with this, our company will
have a competitive advantage that will enable us to secure
contracts in the future.”
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11. What motivates you and keeps you
engaged in your role?
“It motivates me to know that all our
hard work now will create a solid
foundation for the company when the
market picks up again. ”
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12. What advice would you give
to someone who is just starting on their company’s
shared services journey, or to someone who is just
starting their shared services career?
“Be open to new concepts, ideas and thinking.
Get the people on board. Communicate what
the vision is, what are we working for?
If you want “continuous improvement”, which is one of the defined
goals of all shared services models, you need the people working for
you to contribute. If they don’t understand the bigger picture, you
will not get there.”
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13. What advice would you give
to someone who is just starting on their company’s
shared services journey, or to someone who is just
starting their shared services career?
“Also don’t be afraid to speak up, it’s usually the
unspoken idea that was the great idea.”
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14. If you could choose anyone in the world
to work with in your current role, who
would that person be and why?
“Jacqueline Novogratz – I truly admire what she
has done with her Acumen organisation, a non-
profit global venture capital fund.
She is truly contributing to putting social
entrepreneurship on the map. I would love to work
closely with her and learn more about leadership,
entrepreneurship and listen to her amazing stories
from travel all around the world.”
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15. You’ve reached the end of this Q&A!
We hope you’ve found it both
informative and inspiring.
Check back in a month for another Q&A
with our featured Shared Intelligence member!