A revitalized set of core values, a key part of PMI’s governing documents, was approved by the PMI Board of Directors in its October meeting. The project to review the core values was a 10-month effort by a team of PMI leaders.

Core values are a key part of the Institute’s core ideology, which describes PMI’s consistent identity. Core values—the essential and enduring principles guiding PMI—aim to drive behavior by ensuring that the Institute’s stakeholders are aligned with these important identifying traits.

As part of its duties, the PMI Board of Directors regularly reviews the PMI Strategic Plan to ensure that it remains relevant, vital and vibrant. The core values are part of the PMI Strategic Plan. The PMI Strategic Plan was first completed in 2002 and over time the sections are updated. The core value section was the only section which remained unchanged from the original writing in 2002.

In December 2008, the Board chartered a Core Values Review Task Team to assess and analyze the core values, with an eye toward clarifying and augmenting their meaning for all stakeholders. This action came on the basis of a recommendation by the Board Model Assessment Task Team and the External Relations and Volunteer Involvement Committee. 

Research by the team revealed that best practices were to limit the number of core values to a range of from two to six, and include short definitions with the value names. Both of these measures improve the ability of stakeholders to remember the values, understand their consistent definitions and apply these values to their daily decisions and behaviors.

The result of this effort, PMI’s new core values, including preamble and descriptive sentences, is shown below.

At PMI we believe in:

Project Management Impact
Project management is a critical competence that has a positive influence on organization results and society.

Professionalism
Accountability and ethical behavior ensures our commitment to PMI stakeholders.

Volunteerism
Volunteers and effective volunteer partnerships with staff are the best way to accomplish the Institute’s goals and objectives.

Community
Bringing members of the global project management community together is the best way to advance the project management profession and facilitate their growth.

Engagement
Encouraging diverse viewpoints and enabling individuals to contribute to the project management profession and to the Institute.

Please be sure to review a more in depth article on PMI’s Core Values and how they were developed in the January 2010 issue of PMI Today.