In order to implement appropriate initiatives for influencing personnel to embrace Business Continuity and a Business Continuity culture, the Business Continuity professional should start by:

The most effective starting point for any organizational change initiative, including embedding a Business Continuity (BC) culture, is to first understand the current state. By estimating the gap between how BC is currently perceived and embraced versus the desired level of cultural integration, the BC professional establishes a baseline. This cultural gap analysis is crucial for developing targeted, relevant, and effective initiatives, such as communication plans and training programs. Acting without this initial assessment risks implementing strategies that are misaligned with the organization's actual cultural needs, leading to wasted effort and poor adoption.

A. A Business Impact Analysis (BIA) is a technical process to identify critical activities and recovery requirements, not to assess organizational culture.

B. This gap analysis compares technical capabilities against recovery needs (from the BIA); it does not measure personnel's attitudes or cultural acceptance.

D. Implementing a communications strategy is a subsequent action or initiative, which should be designed based on the findings of the cultural gap analysis.

1. Business Continuity Institute (BCI), Good Practice Guidelines (GPG), 2018 Edition. In Professional Practice 6 (PP6): Embedding Business Continuity, Section 8.1, "Creating a business continuity culture," the guidelines state, "To develop a strategy for embedding business continuity, the organization first needs to understand its existing culture." This directly supports the principle of assessing the current state (the gap) before implementing initiatives.

2. ISO 22313:2020, Security and resilience — Business continuity management systems — Guidance on the use of ISO 22301. Section 7.3, "Awareness," explains that awareness activities should be planned and appropriate for the target audience. To make them appropriate, an organization must first understand the current level of awareness and cultural acceptance, which aligns with identifying the gap described in option C.

3. Hiles, A. (Ed.). (2011). The Definitive Handbook of Business Continuity Management (3rd ed.). Wiley. Chapter 28, "Building a BCM Culture," emphasizes that a cultural change program must begin with a "diagnostic phase" to understand the existing culture and identify barriers and enablers. This diagnostic step is synonymous with estimating the gap between the current and desired states.