UAE begins happiness training for top CEOs

Dubai - 60 selected CEOs attend 5-month long programme, which will conclude in January 2017

A select group of 60 chief executive officers (CEO) from various public departments attended a five-day happiness training programme held recently.
The five-month long training, which is being conducted in collaboration with the Greater Good Science Centre - University of California, Berkely, will run until January next year.
While launching the training series, Ohood bint Khalfan Al Roumi, Minister of State for Happiness, emphasised that happiness is not just hypothetical, but a science taught at universities and applied in institutions.
"The programme is in line with the vision of his Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice- President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, that the government is part of the people's lives. Through them its success is measured, and ultimately its function is to make them happy and build a promising future of their children," Al Roumi said.
"Economic growth is no longer a tool to gauge the happiness of the people. The future will be for those countries which could transform economic growth into a high quality life and happiness of the people."
"Happiness has impact on education, health, economy and in all aspects of life. Hence the role of the CEO's in coordinating with the initiatives of happiness and positivity at the workplaces is very important to make it a daily phenomenon in the government sector."
Dr Dacher Keltner, the founding director of the Greater Good Science Center and a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, who supervises the training course of the CEOs' said that through various initiatives, the UAE has become a role model in achieving happiness and positivity of the society and taking it to new heights of a life style of the people.
"What characterises the programme is that it is based on adopting the best international practices, which could position the UAE as one of the leading country in this field globally," he added.
According to the participants, the training helped them acquire skills which enable them to use the best means to achieve happiness and positivity in their respective institutions and entities.
Colonel Aziz Al Amiri, director general of exits and airports, who is also the CEO of Happiness and Positivity at the Ministry of Interior, described the programme as outstanding and contributes effectively in enriching knowledge and expertise on the real concepts of happiness.
"The elements that trigger happiness differ from person to person and from workplace to workplace. So, as the chief executives for positivity and happiness, we shoulder the responsibility to collaborate the plans of our institutions and related policies in order to achieve the highest levels of happiness among the employees which will reflect in the society," he said.
Mooza Ali Al Hamili, director of the corporate development office, who is also the CEO of Happiness and Positivity at the Ministry of Presidential Affairs, highlighted the transparency and effective communication as important pillar for happiness.
Salah Al Hashimi, director of the government communication and CEO of Happiness and Positivity echoed the words of other CEOs and dubbed the programme as distinctive which presents a comprehensive concept for happiness.
Amina Al Mansouri, director of operational services at the Higher Colleges of Technology in Abu Dhabi said the concept of happiness is deep-rooted in UAE for which the foundations were laid by the late Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
malzarooni@khaleejtimes.com