Wellbeing Academy Explores The Role Of Government Excellence In Societal Wellbeing

DUBAI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 01st Jul, 2020) The Wellbeing academy held a virtual session to explore the role of government excellence in promoting the community’s wellbeing, and highlight the experience of the UAE’s Government Excellence System in integrating the concepts of wellbeing within its pillars to enhance the UAE’s global competitiveness.

Attended by Ohood bint Khalfan Al Roumi, Minister of State for Happiness and Wellbeing, Director General of the Prime Minister’s Office, the session was presented by Professor Muhammad Zairi, Government Excellence Advisor for Abu Dhabi Government Excellence Program and Dubai Government Excellence Program and Head of the Judging Committee at Sheikh Khalifa Government Excellence Program, and moderated by Ammar Almaeeni, Wellbeing Academy Director.

This session, attended by 700 government officials and employees from various Federal and local government entities, is the second in a series of sessions held by the Wellbeing Academy, recently launched by the National Program for Happiness and Wellbeing.

Professor Zairi stated that the UAE government, guided and supported by the UAE’s wise leadership, has managed the COVID-19 crisis efficiently and competently and has shown itself as a global role model. He also highlighted the UAE’s sound decisions and its commitment to guarantee the health, safety and wellbeing of all community members.

Professor Zairi stated that the UAE has pioneered in adopting excellence as a political and strategic choice and has been developing the concept of excellence for over 25 years. The UAE’s efforts in instilling the principles of government excellence elevated the community’s sense of security and safety during the COVID-19 crisis. He highlighted the leadership’s continuous pursuit to provide individuals’ basic needs; specifically safety, security, medication and food; its keenness to maintain direct contact with the community; and its decisions that helped promoting people’s wellbeing through maintaining continuity of government operations, the adoption of distant learning, and remote work systems.

Zairi added that governments around the world have adopted various approaches of excellence, mostly focusing on economy, industry and technology as in Japan, United States and Singapore, or focusing on literacy as in India, while the UAE adopted wellbeing and excellence as a government system and a lifestyle.

Professor Zairi said that wellbeing is linked to all stages of human life and that there is a shared responsibility of all entities to achieve the ultimate goal of improving people's lives. He marked the National Wellbeing Strategy 2031, launched by the UAE government, as a milestone in its excellence journey.

Zairi noted that the model of the UAE’s government excellence system highlights wellbeing as a center for all the system’s pillars, goals and standards, where 75% of the system focuses on achieving the National Strategy for Wellbeing. The system aims to translate the leadership’s ambitious vision through promoting wellbeing, embracing change, enhancing trust and developing outcome-centered integrated frameworks.

The achievement of the government excellence vision was summarized in four Primary criteria: The enhancement of wellbeing, future preparedness, strategic direction and main responsibilities. Zairi indicated that the relationship between wellbeing and the criteria for vision achievement resides in adopting a work method that focuses on enhancing people’s wellbeing, developing flexible strategies, utilizing wellbeing in shaping the future and developing initiatives that focus on achieving distinct value and contribute to improving the competitiveness and leadership of the country, in addition to improving the community’s wellbeing.

Zairi added that the pillar distinct value in the Government Excellence System includes wellbeing enhancement related standards by means of measuring entities’ success in developing proactive, human-centered services that focus on value and smart empowerment through improving future opportunities and enabling professional talents.

The enablement pillar’s standards, according to Zairi, include resources, capabilities, data and management of knowledge, government communication, partnership and integration, and they are closely linked to the comprehensive concept of holistic wellbeing by means of focusing on tools and means that enhance human-centered excellence.

Zairi noted that traditional excellence is routinely devoid of creativity, innovation and continuous development. This is far from the UAE’s Government Excellence System, which is resilient, flexible and capable of improvement.

While innovation nurtures thought by means of developing capabilities and strategic direction, leadership entails the availability of unique capabilities that provide entities with value, which is directly linked to serving the achievement of goals, visions and aspirations, Zairi highlighted the necessity for embracing a wellbeing mindset while shaping the future of the coming generations.

The Wellbeing Academy was launched as part of the government's efforts to implement the pillars of the National Wellbeing Strategy 2031, which was approved in a Cabinet meeting chaired by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in June 2019.