A lifelong dedication to learning
RENU BORST reckons the qualities she has inherited from her parents have been instrumental in her successful career.
The third generation Fijian Indian moved to New Zealand almost 23 years ago with her Dutch husband. She started her working life here in receptionist/ administration and project support roles and two decades on she’s chief executive of the Wellingtonbased, not-for-profit New Zealand Society of Anaesthetists.
While Borst puts her steady rise down to the skills she’s picked up along the way, the mother of two children aged 16 and 23, is quick to credit her parents as well.
She believes she’s picked up her mother’s tenacity and resilience and her father’s technical mind and people skills.
‘‘My Mum’s ancestors originally come from Nepal. Out of her siblings she was the only one who fought for the right to study and she ended up being dux of her school. She wanted a career and became a teacher.
‘‘My Dad’s ancestors come from Bihar, India and he was involved in training and development. I think I picked up his intellect, and he’s also very good at dealing with people.’’
In her role as chief executive, Borst deals daily with people from all walks of life. She has her staff of three, the medical practitioners who are members, her executive committee, the Ministry of Health, ACC as well as other international anaesthetist organisations.
‘‘It’s about providing a voice for our anaesthetists, to provide advocacy, education and a community for them so they can, in turn, provide the highest quality care for patients and achieve optimal outcomes,’’ Borst says.
That means it’s up to her to build relationships with stakeholders, manage and mitigate organisational risks, ensure strategic vision and goals are achieved, meet legal requirements, and ensure the organisation is continually growing and adapting to new challenges.
‘‘I work on the day-to-day operational stuff. It could be payroll, looking at reports from accounts to make sure we’re meeting our budgets, or dealing with a membership issue that is outside the scope of our membership manager, or having discussions with staff, right down to mapping out our strategic goals and giving guidance to our executive or working on a big piece of work, like our recent rebrand.’’
Ultimately, Borst is responsible for the success and failure of the organisation, and she’s proud of the fact that membership has grown 35 per cent since she started four years ago.
‘‘I’ve helped to build a team, supported the vision and put initiatives in place that has helped to increase our membership. It’s thriving now and it’s exciting to be a part of it.’’
Borst reflects on her career to date, recalling her first job after migrating to New Zealand, armed with a BA in public administration, and sociology.
‘‘It was an administration role at Transfield in Bunnythorpe, near Palmerston North. My boss said she’d hired me because I had a red jacket on in a series of endless black,’’ she laughs.
‘‘I had never used Excel but part of that job was to type a series of numbers to be populated daily.
‘‘I remember looking at this and thinking there must be a better way, so I asked my husband who is in IT and he showed me the fill down option,’’ she says.
‘‘Before I left I showed them that trick and it saved them so much time – the job was short-lived but I realised that I was good at process improvement and I picked up systems fast.’’
Borst put those skills to work in her first health sector role for the then Hunt Group, a privatelyowned group of companies that looked after retirement homes and hospitals and construction of new buildings.
‘‘I got a temporary contract for six weeks as a receptionist and project support for the business development manager.
‘‘Instead of just coming in and answering the phones and managing reception, I would ask if I could help with anything else.
‘‘There were lots of results for an annual survey that nobody had collated so I took it on and ended up processing all of those results into an analysis and report, which surprised them.’’
When the business development manager left Borst was offered a new role as healthcare assistant, which transitioned to an office manager role.
‘‘I never said no to anything. I learnt accounts and IT administration which was new to me, but I stretched myself and took it on.
‘‘In fact, all my jobs have been a huge learning curve, but I’ve always pushed myself to do the learning and I have never held back.’’
In her next role as administration manager at Max Recruitment her role expanded into staff management and recruitment in addition to office management.
Four years later Borst put her newfound skills to work as office manager for the New Zealand Health IT Cluster, an alliance of organisations interested in health IT.
‘‘I had a great CEO I reported to who really gave me the opportunity to grow – I learnt how formal meetings were run, I learnt about financial analysis and reporting, I learnt IT project management and it also increased my interest in the health sector.’’
A year on she said yes to an approach to move to an office manager’s role at TAS, which partners with the health sector to provide expertise and services to support district health boards.
‘‘When I started the organisation I had about 30 staff. It was quite different from my other roles and it was a huge learning curve, in terms of the variety and expectations were higher – I had to push myself a lot to learn that role, but I survived,’’ she laughs.
‘‘I knew HR but nothing to the level of what this was. I learnt even more about IT, accounting, reporting to boards, audits, compliance – it increased my overall knowledge of how an organisation is run.’’
A merger with another organisation saw Borst promoted to corporate services manager, a position she held till her move to the anaesthetists’ society.
‘‘I wanted to try something new, I needed more of a work/life balance and I thought I was going to have to specialise if I wanted to keep going in this trajectory.
‘‘I talked to a few recruitment firms. One of them said it wasn’t necessary to specialise and recommended I apply for an operational management role they had going.
‘‘They downplayed the role, they said it would suit me. I said OK and I turned up for the interview not realising how big the role actually was but I also realised it was everything I had basically worked all these years for!’’
These days Borst enjoys channelling all her skills into the one role, and though she knows she could earn more money in the private sector it doesn’t interest her as much.
‘‘I did non-profit work back in Fiji for Rape Crisis and Age Concern here in New Zealand, which developed my interest in the sector.
‘‘I’m all about taking opportunities and learning, I just want to do the best job I can and achieve the best outcomes for this organisation, that’s always been my goal – it’s never been about being a CEO or manager or I want to earn this much money.
‘‘It’s all about the people, and this job allows me to help and inspire others, to be able to give back – my title helps to be noticed and heard, it gives me credibility.’’
Borst’s work doesn’t stop when she leaves her office – she is also building up her own business as an independent consultant for a health and wellness company.
‘‘I don’t carry stock, I do parties to give people the opportunity to try the products then they can buy them online through me if they want to.’’
It’s a venture that wasn’t planned.
‘‘I used the products and absolutely fell in love with them, then when I started looking at the business model and the support provided by the company, I thought it would be a great business to build as part of my retirement plan.
‘‘At the time I had realised I was a bit of a workaholic too – I would go home and look at our website or do more work, I couldn’t shut off.
‘‘So this business has been great because I know that I have to shut down and think about something else, it’s become my happy place,’’ she laughs.
In both instances Borst says she’s had to believe in herself and not hold back.
‘‘I’ve never put any barriers up, held back or said no if someone asked me to go and make a cup of tea for them.
‘‘There are so many ways of achieving your goals, and mine has always been through showing kindness and gratitude along the way.’’
As for her parents, Borst says both are proud of her.
‘‘Mum was disappointed I didn’t become a doctor or a lawyer and she didn’t really know that I’d found my feet until she came to a conference with me as my ‘plus one’.
‘‘People kept coming up to her saying nice things about me, only then did she realise what I did and felt proud.
‘‘My Dad . . . well he is always proud of me no matter what I do,’’ she laughs.