3.0 Guiding Principles

Optimal health and wellness requires a balance of competing demands, an alignment of resources to meet needs and the integration of total health and wellness activities for higher levels of functioning. Balance, alignment and integration are guiding principles for achieving wellness and apply to each of the spheres of influence: organization, leaders and individuals.

Balance

• Organizational Balance: Institutionally, the DND/CAF must balance the achievement of mission success while creating conditions that support member well-being and commitment.
• Leadership Balance: Leaders must balance the need to meet organizational objectives with their parallel responsibility to support the health and wellness of Defence Team members.
• Individual Balance: Individual Defence Team members must strive to balance the competing demands of work and their personal lives while leaders and the organization improve supporting conditions.

Alignment

• Organizational Alignment: The alignment of organizational structures and systems is necessary to address any gaps in capability, equity and inclusivity, and optimize policies, programs and service delivery.
• Leader Alignment: Leaders must establish health and wellness priorities to align their resources, within constraints, to meet organizational objectives while supporting the health and wellness of all Defence Team members.
• Individual Alignment: Individuals must also align the available resources, including
  time and organizational supports, to optimize their ability to meet competing demands across all dimensions of health.

Integration

• Organizational Integration:Integrating health and wellness principles into governance structures, policies, programs, and practices across the DND/CAF will focus efforts on shared outcomes and optimize organizational supports.
• Leader Integration: Integrated policies, programs and systems will enable leaders to better coordinate their efforts to balance and align organizational demands and member well-being.
• Individual integration:For individuals, integration requires taking steps to maximize limited time and resources at home and work by coordinating and combining activities to get more from the same activities.