Benjamin McCall has put together an invaluable guide to training and development with the release of his e-book, "What We Teach/How We Learn."

The e-book contains:

• 32 pages of articles around engagement, presentation tips, encouraging and empowering individuals to learn and in the workplace approaches to learning.
• Approaches and tips on increasing the way we deliver and facilitate to our employees.
• Reaction sheets after each article for the reader to "react" to what you wrote and jot down some ideas on how they can use it and act.
  

To provide this information, he went out, scoured the country, and found a number of great contributors (myself excluded):

• Erin Schreyer, President of Sagestone Partners, Founder of Authentic Leadership Cincinnati, Twitter: @eschreyer
• Jennifer V. Miller, People-Equation.com, Managing Partner at SkillSource, Twitter: @jennifervmiller
• Steve Boese, HR Technology Blog, HR Technology Instructor, Rochester Institute of Technology, Twitter: @steveboese
• Sharlyn Lauby, SPHR, CPLP, She is the HRBartender.com, President of Internal Talent Management (ITM) Group, Twitter: @sharlyn_lauby
• Matthew J. Stollak, Ph.D., True Faith HR, Assistant Professor of Business Administration, St Norbert Collage, Twitter: @akaBruno
• Ben Eubanks , UpStartHR.com, Runs his SHRM chapter’s RocketHR blog, HR pro at Volunteers of America, Twitter: @beneubanks
• Chris Ferdinandi, RenegadeHR.net, Author of CultureConvo, Employee Development & Social Media Specialist at EMC, Twitter: @chrisferdinandi
• Lance Haun, ReHaul.com, Community Director for ERE Media, Twitter: @thelance
• Steve Browne, Executive Director of HR for Larosa’s Pizza, Facilitator, HR Net, Twitter: @sbrownehr
• Benjamin McCall, Leadership Performance Consultant, Editor, ReThinkHR.org, Twitter: @BenjaminMcCall

Check it out now.

At the HREvolution Unconference last May, I was challenged by a certain Trench HR professional, despite my Ph.D. in Human Resource Management and SPHR certification, that my credibility in the field was limited since I was not a "true" HR professional. Shhh....I have a secret....

I have been practicing HR in my job as a professor for over 15 years. How so?

Recruitment and Selection - As an advisor to the student SHRM chapter, I am always trying to find new members to join the organization. In addition, I have served on several faculty and staff search committees.

Managing Turnover - Unlike many organizations, my turnover rate is highly predictable. Students WILL graduate. As a result, I have to repeatedly build and rebuild our SHRM student chapter as new members of the e-board join the group.

Training - Through the design of appropriate curricula, I facilitate the learning of job-related knowledge, skills, and behavior by students. Syllabi try to meet the ADDIE model.

Performance Management - Through the grading of exams, papers, and other work, I am constantly providing feedback and knowledge of results to students throughout a semester. In addition, syllabi have to be clear with regards to performance standards.

Career Development - I meet regularly with students to help prepare them for their future career. Our college devotes two days a semester for advising students not only on their next semester's schedule, but on their plans post-college. In addition, I serve as the graduate school advisor for our department

Counseling Employees - Its not uncommon to receive e-mails and in-office visits throughout the day and into the night from students requesting help to deal with sickness, injury, and even death. Similarly, I have to deal with poor performing students and try to help them improve.

Benefits - For the past 7 years, I have served on the college's Benefits Advisory Committee. We assist the college in making decisions regarding health care, insurance, retirement, and other benefits. In addition, I serve on the wellness subcommittee as the college looks to improve employees' health.

Harassment - I have also served on our college's Harassment Resource Committee. This committee assists the college in dealing with harassment-related issue and helped form the consensual relationship policy

Mediation - I have served as chair for the Faculty Mediation Committee. The function of the Faculty Mediation Committee is to mediate individual complaints against behavior and decisions arguably inconsistent with the Faculty Constitution and the Faculty Policy Statement.

In sum, my job IS human resources

Last week, I finally got to meet the HR Capitali$t himself, Mr. Kris Dunn, as he was the keynote speaker to close out the WI SHRM State Conference. We were able to chat before his presentation, and the conversation turned to the many individuals we have been able to meet over social media. It occurred to me that there is no one I haven't met and maintained a relationship with on the various social media mediums that I haven't liked. So, it begs the following question:

Is likeability a necessary precondition to success in social media?

Anyone who is reasonably successful and gains a lot of followers on Twitter and/or Facebook must be worthy of being followed. We rarely maintain a relationship or follow someone who ends up being mean, hateful, etc.

So, it follows that if likeability is a necessary precondition to success in social media, why, then, are people reluctant to get involved in social media (beyond the artificial barriers placed on social media tools by employers)? Do people feel that the Social Media world is much like Heathers and they feel like they will be picked on like Martha Dumptruck? Where does the fear derive from?

This is all prologue to the plug I am making for the Social Mentoring project being put together by Ben Eubanks and Victorio Milian. If you fear getting involved in social media, or need help getting started, this project is for you! Don't hesitate in joining, either as a mentor or a mentee, as everyone involved is truly likeable.

This past Monday, I was fortunate to appear on Bryan Wempen's daily blog talk radio show, "Drive Thru HR," to promote the Wisconsin SHRM State Conference, currently going on in Appleton, WI. The conversation turned to the topic of social media.

Of late, social media has become a growing component of the conference experience. The 2010 SHRM Annual Conference had their first annual blog squad to highlight conference activities, and a social media lounge. Illinois SHRM, HRFlorida, and Ohio SHRM had bloggers and heavy activity on the Twitter stream. As expected the HR Technology Conference was rife with social media experience with a number of bloggers and the HR Happy Hour. HR Southwest is starting up soon and it, too, will take a stab at carving up a part of the social media pie. You even see wonderful companies staking out a claim in this area, such as the Stelzner/Ruettimann powerhouse, "Voice of HR."

However, two major state HR conferences are going on this week, with relatively little fanfare: the 2010 Michigan SHRM Conference and the aforementioned 2010 WISHRM conference. While I can't speak for Michigan, WISHRM10 has over 1100 attendees, exhibitors, speakers, and guests....all with limited promotion on social media avenues. No major bloggers....no social media sessions....a relatively quiet Twitter stream.

So, I posed a number of HR bingo-type questions on Bryan's show: What is the return on all this social media activity? Is it creating a buzz? And is this buzz creating increased revenue to the state council? Are more people attending? Is it creating interest for future years of the conference? What is the bottom line of this activity?

Wisconsin SHRM enters its first full day of conference activity today. 1100 individuals will be busy enjoying the activities and learning, oblivious to the social media world's comments.