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Meet Tendai Nzuma, NHPC CEO and Registrar
Thursday, July 28, 2022, 10:50 AM
NHPC's CEO and Registrar Shares Her Vision of the Association's Future
This month, we met with our Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Registrar Tendai Nzuma to learn more about her background, her desire to work in holistic health care, and her outlook for the NHPC.
As CEO, Tendai oversees all NHPC operations, and acting as Registrar, she provides leadership on the Register of Members, including eligibility, requirements, and more.
Tendai was a natural choice for CEO in 2018 with her strong knowledge of NHPC initiatives, background working with non-profit organizations, and passion for health care.
However, Tendai's start at the NHPC began much sooner than that. After finishing her Bachelor's degree in Biology and Master's in Public Health, Tendai started working at the NHPC as a part-time Customer Service and Office Administrator in 2014.
A few months later, she became a full-time Member Relations Coordinator, and a few months after that she took on the role of NHPC's Membership and Credentials Manager, where she developed and implemented member retention and recruitment strategies.
Tendai describes science and health care specifically as her first love. She believes people need to be healthy first to participate in any aspect of life. She is driven to pave the way for a more holistic and integrative approach to the health care system.
Tendai strongly advocates for social entrepreneurship and using business as a force for good. Although science may have been her first love, business became a strong second. In 2020, she completed a Master's in Management, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship.
In our discussion, Tendai shared the challenges, opportunities, and goals set for the NHPC. Read on for more from our interview!
What makes the NHPC stand out from other associations in Canada?
NHPC recognizes the reality of someone's well-being as individualistic, not just a one-size-fits-all tool.
TN: It's the inclusivity of the community. The NHPC sees health as holistic. We don't support just one modality because multiple modalities can help someone in their health care journey.
NHPC recognizes the reality of someone's well-being as individualistic, not just a one-size-fits-all tool.
What are the biggest challenges for the NHPC?
TN: We are a nationwide association, making it challenging to serve everyone in multiple jurisdictions that have their own changing needs. It's easy to think that a person in Alberta has the exact needs as someone in Manitoba, but they don't.
Our membership doesn't grow fast or as much in those provinces (central or eastern provinces). We're working on identifying and meeting everyone's geographical needs.
What are the most significant opportunities for the NHPC?
TN: We have so much opportunity for growth: get bigger! I love that.
Technology is on our side. Once upon a time, we had to have a physical presence. We needed an office and all sorts of expensive endeavours to meet, understand and engage with our members. That's not the case anymore.
Another opportunity for us is regulation. If it becomes a new era, we must explore what value we can give our members. We don't want just to be a vehicle for insurance. We must redefine who we are and what we mean to each member.
What have you learned from our members?
TN: My favourite part about working at the NHPC is connecting with the members, learning about their needs, and finding ways to fulfill them. I've had many opportunities to interact with our members through board meetings, Connections Cafes, and other events.
I've learned how dedicated they are to what they do. They genuinely love helping other people. It's wonderful to see that level of passion.
I've also learned why loving what you do matters. For example, massage therapy is hard on a practitioner's body over time. They can develop arthritis and other sorts of things.
But our members keep going because they enjoy it. Knowing how significant their work is and how much it helps other people empowers them to be happier and healthier.
You can have any job and do whatever; it doesn't matter. What matters is loving what you do for work because it takes up a significant portion of your time.
Where do you see the holistic health industry in Canada going in the next decade?
TN: Right now, it's compartmentalized. There is holistic health, but it's very focused on the individual modalities that exist and pushing one over the other as the primary modality to use.
You can already see that people are starting to merge modalities like Thai massage and massage therapy. It's a trend that will continue.
Over time, we will see more modalities merging and there being fewer distinctions. People's needs will push the industry in that direction. Individuals want access to a variety of things. You can already see that people are starting to merge modalities like Thai massage and massage therapy. It's a trend that will continue.
I also suspect we'll see more research being done on the effect holistic health has on public health and associated costs. There is a need by the therapists themselves to know more definitively what effects their work has on people's health.
Insurers must also justify whether they want to pay for claims or include other services in their plans. It will be essential to know if what they're doing is effective.
What is your "go-to" holistic health treatment?
TN: Reflexology! My feet affect the rest of my body. It's comfortable and accessible for me.
Also, part of the reason why it became my "go-to" holistic health treatment is because of my therapist. She's one of our members and is also Zimbabwean by birth. She was my first ever practitioner, and I remember saying ''Oh, this is amazing!''
What is your leadership philosophy?
TN: I would say something between democratic style and visionary. I see everyone as an expert in their field. My job is not to tell people what to do. I'm here to facilitate their jobs. I'm here to facilitate connections between team members.
I'm a strategic leader. I aim to make the Association grow bigger with as little risk as possible. I'm here for risk assessment and mitigation, pushing people to think bigger.
I'll ask my team how they see their departments evolving and what they need from me to make it happen. I won't stand in their way, but I will assess the risk involved in their plans.
My job is to ensure that the least amount of wrong happens when we win.
What advice would you give to individuals interested in pursuing a leadership role?
TN: I'll give the same advice I received from my mentor: focus on soft skills. It's easy to prove you're smart or can do the tasks assigned to you.
For example, I love numbers. I am comfortable dealing with numbers; I can open Excel and give you all sorts of statistics, but if you want to be a leader in any field, the most effective skill set will be the human aspect.
Processing an application for a member or answering their questions will be your hard skills at work. If you want to move into a leadership role, you need to bring in your soft skills and ask yourself: How was my interaction? What insights did I draw? What am I noticing with these applications? What does it mean for my organization?
You must draw insights from your work and build recommendations as a leader.
I'll also give some life advice I received from my dad: work hard because it is a function of who you are. Don't work hard because your boss motivates you or expects you to.
Otherwise, if you get a new boss that is less inspiring, this will mean that your work product will drop in quality. Therefore, it helps if you account for your time and the things you've achieved for yourself.
Don't let anyone — not even your boss — define your capabilities. You determine if you are good or not. Take a test- and-learn approach: if a test fails, it doesn't mean you're not good; it means you must change something to achieve what you set out to do. To convince yourself that you can, you must!
Take a test- and-learn approach: if a test fails, it doesn't mean you're not good; it means you must change something to achieve what you set out to do. To convince yourself that you can, you must!
Meet the Rest of the Team
At the NHPC, we have a team of knowledgeable and accomplished people who share a commitment to holistic health care.
Our team of 20 employees works to assist with member inquiries, provide advice on business best practices and industry standards, advocate for holistic health practitioners in the health benefits industry and at all levels of government, and increase public awareness of holistic health care.
Like Tendai, they are passionate and committed to what they do. Meet the team.