BIG Governance Principles - What Actually Matters

The Principles chapter of the Business Integrated Governance (BIG) Body of Knowledge is only three pages long. Yet it captures some of the most important lessons about why governance works in practice - and why it often fails despite good intentions, experienced people, and well-designed frameworks.

Those principles did not begin as a tidy list. They emerged from more than 80 statements drawn from real organisations, real delivery challenges, and real governance failures. Through challenge, debate, and lived experience, they were stripped back until only what consistently held true under pressure remained.

In this BIG Book Group session, we will spend an evening exploring those principles together. Not as abstract theory, but as practical guidance for anyone involved in change, transformation, governance, delivery, or leadership.

We will discuss:

• why principles matter more than frameworks when things get difficult
• how governance drifts into process and compliance theatre
• what happens when principles are diluted, ignored, or misunderstood
• how the BIG principles show up in everyday organisational decisions
• how you can use them in your own context

This is not a lecture or a training session. It is a facilitated conversation, grounded in experience, where participants are encouraged to share perspectives and challenge assumptions.

You do not need to be a governance expert, and you do not need to have read the BIG Body of Knowledge in advance. Curiosity and a willingness to think are enough.

Who should attend

This session will be most relevant if you work in, or alongside:

• change and transformation
• programme and portfolio management
• PMO
• risk, assurance, or audit
• strategy or senior leadership roles

Event details

Date: Monday 12 January 2026
Time: 7:30–9:00pm (UK time)
Format: Online
Cost: Free
Booking: Via Eventbrite

Whether you are new to BIG or already familiar with the Body of Knowledge, this session offers a practical way to reconnect governance with purpose, judgement, and outcomes.

Three pages. Big thinking. Proper conversation.