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According to Wikipedia, “a learning organization is the term given to a company that facilitates the learning of its members and continuously transforms itself.” This concept was popularized by Peter Senge in his excellent book The Fifth Discipline. No, it’s not an old rock group; Senge ran a think tank at MIT Sloan School of Management. His Fifth Discipline Fieldbook provides a manifesto that companies can use to build a learning organization.

According to Senge, there are five main aspects to a learning organization. Let’s discuss how each of those might apply to the HR equation.

Systems Thinking. This means that HR doesn’t operate in a bubble, but rather in concert with other aspects of the system. Understand how HR affects everything in your business from operations to sales, marketing, customer support, and so on. A strategic HR manager will take a cross-disciplinary approach when it comes to their HR practices, training, etc.

Personal Mastery. This means you commit yourself to the process of learning. How many books have you read in your area of expertise during the last year? Do you receive trade publications, attend trade conferences, network with your peers, and look for additional learning outside of your expertise? Do you make sure everyone else at your company is engaging in personal mastery?

Mental Models. Basically, this means the assumptions or framework in which each of us operates. To become a learning organization we have to challenge these models, and HR must be part of this conversation. A classic mental model in the HR arena is the management of performance evaluations. In most organizations, this model is more than 50 years old, meaning that it’s time to retire it. What new model can you develop that will generate integrity, trust, and better performance?

Shared Vision. All business authors stress the importance of this factor. Jim Collins emphasized it in his Good to Great book, as did Senge in The Fifth Discipline. How is HR helping to push out and market your organization’s vision? How are you making it “visual”? For example, if I walked into your company would I know what your vision is without having to ask about it? If not, start working with the marketing department and engage in some internal” branding” of the vision.

Team Learning. As the saying goes, none of us is as smart as all of us. How can we create vigorous dialogues in which we all learn from each other? I encourage you to go to the five-minute video I did on a very powerful team learning process that anyone can facilitate. In growing your business as a “learning organization,” you’ll probably need to deal with obstructions. Opposition might come from individuals trying to protect their turf, one department not wanting to communicate with another, a lack of empowerment among leaders or employees — or an organization that’s just too big to share information fully (Senge suggests a cutoff point of 150 employees).

Cultural dimensions can also impede the learning process. What barriers have you identified to building a knowledge organization? What strategies do you have to get past these blockages? If you have yet to do so, I encourage you to pick up a copy of Senge’s The Fifth Discipline as well as The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook.

State laws or lenders require people and businesses to buy certain types of insurance. Most states require Automobile Liability insurance on all registered vehicles. If the vehicles are financed, the lenders will require the owners to carry Collision and Fire coverage. Employers have to carry Workers Compensation in most states. Mortgage lenders require borrowers to insure their buildings against loss by fire and other perils. In certain areas at high risk of flooding, lenders might require them to buy Flood insurance as well.

However, many kinds of insurance are not required by anyone. In Texas, employers can opt out of buying Workers Compensation coverage. Although nearly all businesses use computer networks, no laws or lenders require them to buy insurance against damage to their systems or damages others might suffer because of a problem with their networks. State laws do not require employers to carry Employment Practices Liability coverage.

Lenders normally do not require people who live in low-risk flood zones to buy Flood coverage. No laws require businesses to buy Umbrella policies, which provide additional liability insurance above standard Liability and Auto policies. This begs a question: If an individual or business is not required to buy certain types of insurance, should they skip them?

The reasons for passing on non-mandatory insurance are compelling. Although the future occurrence of a loss is uncertain, the cost of an insurance premium is not. Insurance can cost significant amounts of money that many people would rather put to other uses.

Further, people might believe that they are unlikely to have some types of losses and therefore do not need insurance against them. Many businesses do not carry Cyber Liability insurance for this reason. People who do not live near bodies of water often do not even think about Flood insurance. Some types of insurance can also be difficult to get. In parts of the U.S. prone to earthquakes, the market for Earthquake coverage is very limited.

There are good reasons for buying insurance even if it’s not required. Many of these policies cover jury awards in injury and damage cases, and those awards can be substantial.

Consider the following awards that would likely be covered by Employment Practices Liability insurance: 

A jury awarded $934,000 in damages to a deaf man fired by the convenience store that employed him.

An Alabama man who was fired after complaining about his employer to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was awarded $314,000.

A jury ordered an employer to pay $900,000 to a Cleveland woman for discriminating against her because of her age.

Umbrella policies would come in handy is situations like these: 

A woman who suffered injuries when she fell in a store was awarded $3.2 million.

A jury awarded $11.7 million to an elevator mechanic who was injured while working on a construction site.

People and businesses who think they don’t need Flood insurance might want to reconsider. Floods can result from melting snow and water main breaks as well as rainfall. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, people outside of high-risk areas file over 20% of Flood insurance claims and receive one-third of disaster assistance for flooding. The agency estimates that as little as one inch of floodwater in a 2,000 square foot home can cause up to $21,000 in damage.

For these reasons, it is wise to at least consider buying insurance that no one requires. One of our professional insurance agents can answer questions and help you weigh the costs and benefits of buying extra coverage. Going without insurance can be a very costly mistake. Just because it’s not required doesn’t mean you shouldn’t buy it.

There are insurance policies that any sane business owner is going to have to invest in as soon as they have the cash flow to cover them. Then there are those that are… a little out-there. You might never need any of these policies, but it’s good (or at least interesting) to know they’re available in some areas:

Lottery Winner Insurance

Businesses in the United Kingdom have the option to purchase insurance for the event that two or more employees win the National Lottery and quit their dayjobs. The odds of that happening are especially slim when you consider how many lotto winners put their prize in savings and go back to work the next day. But hey, better safe than sorry, right?

Loch Ness Monster Insurance

The Cutty Sark Company has a prize for anyone who can capture the Loch Ness Monster alive to the tune of one and a half million dollars USD. They also have an insurance policy to cover their losses should this happen. We’re not talking proof alone of the monster’s existence, but capturing it alive. Something tells us their insurers aren’t too worried about having to pay out a million and a half bucks anytime soon.

Immaculate Conception Insurance

The Catholic Church insured three of their most valuable nuns against the risk of immaculate conception in 2006 through British Insurance. Sounds weird, but when you think about it, doesn’t every line of work carry with it its own risks?

Abbot and Costello

For Abbot and Costello, their onscreen chemistry was their livelihood. They insured their partnership for about a quarter million dollars in case they ever just couldn’t get along anymore. Insurance to cover bickering employees actually doesn’t sound like a bad idea, come to think of it.

Lloyd’s of London in Hollywood

Lloyd’s of London has a long history with Hollywood, having insured comedic actor Ben Turpin’s famous crossed eyes for twenty grand should they ever uncross, and covering the Oscars with some pretty hefty liability policies, including a thirty eight million policy just to cover the jewelry on display in 2004. All those big stars in one room? That’s a lot of assets on the line for the industry’s money-men.

Some of these policies sound pretty weird, but if you think about it, it’s nice to live in a world where there’s still enough reasonable doubt that you can be insured against the capture of the Loch Ness Monster. Insurance is, after all, all about peace of mind should the worst-case-scenario occur.

There are insurance policies that any sane business owner is going to have to invest in as soon as they have the cash flow to cover them. Then there are those that are… a little out-there. You might never need any of these policies, but it’s good (or at least interesting) to know they’re available in some areas:

Lottery Winner Insurance

Businesses in the United Kingdom have the option to purchase insurance for the event that two or more employees win the National Lottery and quit their dayjobs. The odds of that happening are especially slim when you consider how many lotto winners put their prize in savings and go back to work the next day. But hey, better safe than sorry, right?

Loch Ness Monster Insurance

The Cutty Sark Company has a prize for anyone who can capture the Loch Ness Monster alive to the tune of one and a half million dollars USD. They also have an insurance policy to cover their losses should this happen. We’re not talking proof alone of the monster’s existence, but capturing it alive. Something tells us their insurers aren’t too worried about having to pay out a million and a half bucks anytime soon.

Immaculate Conception Insurance

The Catholic Church insured three of their most valuable nuns against the risk of immaculate conception in 2006 through British Insurance. Sounds weird, but when you think about it, doesn’t every line of work carry with it its own risks?

Abbot and Costello

For Abbot and Costello, their onscreen chemistry was their livelihood. They insured their partnership for about a quarter million dollars in case they ever just couldn’t get along anymore. Insurance to cover bickering employees actually doesn’t sound like a bad idea, come to think of it.

Lloyd’s of London in Hollywood

Lloyd’s of London has a long history with Hollywood, having insured comedic actor Ben Turpin’s famous crossed eyes for twenty grand should they ever uncross, and covering the Oscars with some pretty hefty liability policies, including a thirty eight million policy just to cover the jewelry on display in 2004. All those big stars in one room? That’s a lot of assets on the line for the industry’s money-men.

Some of these policies sound pretty weird, but if you think about it, it’s nice to live in a world where there’s still enough reasonable doubt that you can be insured against the capture of the Loch Ness Monster. Insurance is, after all, all about peace of mind should the worst-case-scenario occur.

More and more businesses are realizing that content marketing is a necessary means of communicating with customers. But it’s hard to know what effect content marketing has on the bottom line. To make sure you’re posting the most effective content, make sure it serves a purpose for the customers—giving them relevant information that they need—to keep them coming back to your business.

It’s a never-ending cycle. Miss a beat, and customers may bail. But Jason Miller—the Senior Manager of Content Marketing at LinkedIn, author of Welcome to the Funnel, and a well known thought leader on content marketing—recently shared his content marketing tips with Microsoft for Work. Every business can apply these four tactics right now to see more results from their efforts.

Miller says. “The first thing you want to do is create content that answers your customers’ questions. As professor and author Ann Handley says, ‘Pathologically empathize with your customers.’ Put yourself in their shoes. Our job as marketers is to answer tough questions for our prospects and do it better than anyone else.”
You know your product or service better than anyone else, which means you should be able to explain the benefits to prospective customers better than anyone else. Always keep in mind their needs and approach your products with that in mind.

“We don’t need more content,” Miller says, “We need more relevant content. Is what we write going to answer a question? Is there a need for the content we’re writing? Is it going to drive an action or result? Does it hold the customer’s hand on the journey?”

Anyone can write a blog or social media post, but to meet the needs of your customers, that blog or social post needs to give them information they can use. The content of your posts is the key to successful content marketing. Make sure each post is addressing a question your customers have or might have in the future, or helps them overcome a challenge they’re experiencing. Content is more important than quantity.

“If you don’t have a budget for content marketing in 2015,” Miller says, “you’re missing out on opportunities. If you don’t have a department dedicated to content marketing, you can reach out to an agency for help.”

Content marketing is a powerful tool. So powerful that Miller thinks every company should budget specifically for it. Whether that budget takes the form of someone on the marketing team writing posts on a regular basis or hiring an advertising firm to create content makes no difference, as long as relevant posts are being created and are accessible to customers.

When asked to identify the one thing a business could do right now to experiment with content marketing, Miller says, “Start with a blog. The original piece of social media. It’s not sexy, but if it has good info and answers relevant topics, that’s great. Then, as that content is indexed by search engines over the course of time, it starts to pay off as the blog shows up in searches. If you write a blog today, you could make an impact within hours. One blog post, one idea, then keep going.”

Miller paraphrases The Big Lebowski when he says, “the blog is the social media rug that ties the room together.” By which he means that the blog is the primary location for prospects to find content from your company. If the blog serves a purpose for customers, it’s very likely they will read it, learn more about your company and, hopefully, take the next step.

What are your experiences with content marketing? What blogs have you found particularly useful? Let us know on Facebook orTwitter.

By Steve Strauss, senior USA TODAY Small Business Columnist

My dad always called himself “the world’s greatest salesman.” Was he? No, probably not.
But what I can say is that he was one of the great marketers.

He started out in the ’60s as an ad man (like a character on Mad Men in the good ways, not the bad) and then opened a small carpet store with a partner. They grew that single store into one of the biggest chains in California at the time. In the end, Dad didn’t like running such a large business, so he sold his share to his partner. He started over and created a giant carpet warehouse that was, again, super-successful. As I said, he was a heck of a marketer.
One surprising feature of that carpet store was a banner you saw when you sauntered inside: “Our word of mouth advertising starts with you!”	Steve Strauss,senior USA TODAY Small Business Columnist

After all those years – through all the TV ads, Sunday inserts, parking lot sales, grand openings, the whole enchilada—his essential marketing takeaway was that nothing beats word of mouth dvertising. Having someone tell a friend or neighbor about her positive experience with your business can’t be beat. It’s marketing gold.

It is as true today as it was back then-actually more so. Today we live in a world where sharing what you think about a business is almost de rigueur; the difference is that now we’re sharing our opinions online. With access to Yelp, blogs, comments, Twitter, Facebook – what have you – it is easier than ever to spread the word (both good and bad) about a business. So customers are no longer sharing an opinion with one other person but with 1 thousand – or 10 thousand.

Maybe word of mouth isn’t the right term anymore; word of click seems more apt.

	Steve Strauss’s father at Carpet World in California

What do you do before you buy something or go to a new business these days? Of course, you do a search. What have other people said about this business, about this product? What’s the overall tone of the reviews? Why is the average rating so low?

In the social era, how do you get people to share their positive opinions of your business? Let’s make no mistake: in this hyperconnected, 24/7, digital world, online comments and reviews can make or break a business. So how can you get word of click?

Here are a few methods that work:

Dad really was on to something. Cultivating word of mouth – or word of click – may well be the best thing you can do to grow your business, and it’s a tactic any company of any size in any industry can embrace.

Technology has advanced the speed and scale at which consumers can communicate about their brand interactions. As a result, businesses have had to determine how to respond to customers on a personal level in what is now a very public, digital space.

If a person had a poor customer experience at a restaurant a few years ago, they may have warned friends not to eat there or written down their complaints on a comment card. Today many people feel comfortable venting their frustrations to an exponentially larger, public audience: the entire Internet. Many companies are still struggling to identify which grievances necessitate a personal reply, which ones can be left alone, and which complaints require escalation and/or a security response.

We reached out to our Microsoft privacy experts again this week to ask how companies should approach online customer feedback, especially where privacy and security are concerned. In an interview with Microsoft for Work, Marisa Rogers, Global Sales and Marketing Privacy Manager, and Kristi Berry, Senior Privacy Manager weighed in on the issue.

MS4Work: How has privacy changed in the world of digital and social media?

Berry: This is a huge question. Things have changed a lot because of evolving industry trends and evolving attitudes towards technology and social media. In general, people are much more comfortable with these types of data collection and comfortable with this social, digital world. They are more aware and paying much more attention to what’s going on. For us that makes it more and more important to provide the right levels of controls for the customer to manage their privacy.

MS4Work: When customers voice a complaint via social media, they can’t hide. Their name is attached to the comment. Can that ever backfire?

Rogers: There were recent news reports of a man who was boarding a Southwest flight and tweeted about his bad customer service experience with the gate agent real-time. He included the agent’s first name and the gate location where he boarded his plane. It caused him to be removed from the plane and to be interviewed by security officials before he was allowed to go on the flight. Certainly in the public space, people are increasingly using social media to comment both positively and negatively on customer service.

Now, in this particular case, [there was] heightened sensitivity because it had to do with a situation in an airport where someone was complaining about a bad experience. Companies will need to carefully consider how they respond to make sure the response is proportionate to the complaint. There are many examples of companies responding to feedback on social media that are both good and bad.

MS4Work: How can business owners differentiate between comments that necessitate an urgent response and those that can be left alone?

Rogers: In the first place, you have to be prepared to receive the complaints. You should have a plan of action on how you want to address questions or comments that are neutral-to-negative to your business. This may include having some standard answers ready to go and thinking about how to diffuse difficult situations through social media. Remember you can take it offline if it’s more appropriate to address the person’s specific issue.

To learn more about Microsoft’s privacy policies and best practices for your business, visit our Trustworthy Computing site.

This recent infographic examined some of the megatrends on the minds of enterprise leaders. Many of these trends are indicative of larger shifts affecting business at every level, from the small organization to the largest enterprise. We wanted to take a closer look at some of these stats and their implications on businesses—including yours.

The stat: 79% of C-level executives believe they make better and faster tech decisions than IT

The challenge: Across departments, organizations are transforming into a digital business. We’ve already seen the strengthening of CIO and CMO partnerships, which is playing into the fact that 27% of tech budgets are now controlled by departments other than IT. Technology is no longer the sole domain of IT. In fact, a CEO’s digital savvy is the best indicator of business performance. And while this shift to digital makes it more important than ever for decision makers to have a tech-savvy background, it also requires more tact on the part of all leaders to work together. By respecting the domain of IT and their understanding of how technology can benefit business, executives can avoid creating unnecessary tension.

The stat: 70% of CIOs would increase risk to reduce IT costs and accelerate business agility

The challenge: Businesses are realizing that not taking risks is riskier than taking them. For example, in the realm of IT, not considering a cloud solution is riskier for business. The cloud reduces costs and helps streamline business processes by allowing employees to While CIOs want to respond to the ongoing need for efficiency and growth, they are also facing the challenge of harnessing the power of new technologies to aid business mobility and efficiency. Building their digital prowess and leadership skills is key to ensuring they get out ahead of the competition and make the most of technology before competition forces them to play the catchup game.

The stat: 60% of CXOs now look to partners who will have an equal hand in creating business value

The challenge: Decision makers are looking for ways to break down silos and form cross-departmental partnerships within their organizations. By looking at colleagues as allies, employees enable the business to think in new ways, bringing about innovation that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. But CXOs are also finding creative ways to partner with small businesses and startups for their unique sets of resources. External partnerships allow a business to outsource work that’s outside their expertise and focus on bottom-line-impacting projects.

The stat: Three-quarters of decision makers’ top priority is enhancing the customer experience

The challenge: Businesses are moving away from a make/sell business model and rapidly realizing the importance of a sense/respond business model as the expectation for personal, individualized service grows. Customers are the ones that can drive business forward—or into the ground. And the data proves it: outperforming enterprises are 54% more likely to collaborate extensively with their customers. That’s why 7 out of 10 CXOs believe social and digital interactions are the new imperative. Satisfied customers are a top priority for CEOs, in particular. As a whole, businesses need to become more responsive to their customers, taking organizations from being customer-centric to customer-activated.

Do these stats reflect trends you’ve noticed in your own company? Or are your experiences different? Let us know on Facebook orTwitter.

Insights based on Microsoft analysis of third-party research.

Mind Over Matter: the Zen Approach to Innovation and Productivity  

Mindfulness practice has permeated many aspects of Western culture – from stress-reduction therapy to everyday business practices. Mindfulness is an approach to increasing awareness of oneself and one’s surroundings. Mindfulness practice began with Buddhist meditation but is being adapted to fit the more clinical and secular needs of Western treatment centers and workplaces. Here’s how mindfulness is being implemented today and how it could make your workday a little brighter.

Achieving effortless attention

The cornerstone of mindfulness is nonjudgmental observation. It entails perceiving the context of a situation without attaching any emotions to the events unfolding. Much like Zen, which emphasizes the value of meditation and intuition, mindfulness is about eliminating the clutter, finding balance, and getting to the core of what you’re presented with.

Jeremy Hunter, assistant professor at the Peter F. Drucker School of Management, told The Wall Street Journal, “Mindfulness should be at the center of business schools’ teaching … because it is about improving the quality of attention, and in the modern workplace, attention is the key to productivity.” The belief is that attentiveness can be strengthened through mindfulness and meditation practice.

Being in touch with spontaneity

Journalist Warren Berger, who’s written extensively on the subject and talked with various Silicon Valley executives, writes: “Zen practitioners are taught to remain attentive and ‘mindful,’ even during life’s mundane moments—an approach that also helps design researchers and ethnographers gather observations and insights on everyday behavior and needs.” The result is small but pivotal insights that move the individual (or the company) forward.

According to Randy Komisar, a Zen practitioner who’s also a partner with the Silicon Valley venture capitalist firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, Zen practice “is about stripping away one’s biases, prejudices, blindness. It is about realizing the essence of things.” The belief is that through meditation and mindfulness, people open themselves up to having those a-ha! moments that spark innovation.

Honoring the practice

While Zen meditation and mindfulness can certainly boost mental health, creativity, and productivity, it’s important to remember that’s not the sole purpose of these practices. This dilemma is perfectly captured in The Economist’s Schumpeter column:

“The biggest problem with mindfulness is that it is becoming part of the self-help movement—and hence part of the disease that it is supposed to cure. Gurus talk about ‘the competitive advantage of meditation.’ Pupils come to see it as a way to get ahead in life. And the point of the whole exercise is lost.”

Mindfulness won’t help you crush your competition—but it can help you and your colleagues bring greater clarity to the workday by raising awareness of yourself and your surroundings. To get started, check out this feature piece on mindfulness and business. Begin to integrate elements of these practices into your day whenever possible. Remember, it’s not how much you do; it’s how consistently you do it.