You’ll always find a good flaming argument on Twitter, but can it actually be used in a way that’s beneficial for work? Marketing and networking are probably obvious options, but are there better ways to make use of this massive communications medium? This week, Justin, James and Paul discuss how best to get started with Twitter, and how to personalise it so it works just for you. If you'd like to share your thoughts on the show, you can (obviously) find us all on Twitter: @WriterJustin, @JamesMcLuckie and @paullyv71. You can also tweet @GoodPractice or @GoodpracticeAus. If you'd like to find out more about our upcoming events, blogs and whitepapers, visit goodpractice.com. The book Justin mentions, Utopia for Realists, is available from Amazon at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Utopia-Realists-How-Can-There-ebook/dp/B01MQRQG22

Is it important for Learning and Development departments to market themselves internally, or should they operate as wizards behind the curtain of learning? This week on the GoodPractice Podcast: Owen, Andrew and Ross G discuss internal marketing for L&D. What can we do to encourage adoption of our interventions? And how do we raise the profile of L&D with senior stakeholders? If you'd like to share your thoughts on the show, you can find Owen on Twitter @owenferguson, Andrew @AMcGlynGP and Ross @RossGarnerGP. You can also tweet @GoodPractice or @GoodpracticeAus.  If you'd like to find out more about our upcoming events, blogs and whitepapers, visit goodpractice.com. The book Owen recommended, The Invention of Nature, is available from Amazon at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Invention-Nature-Adventures-Alexander-Humboldt-ebook/dp/B00PW4O1SQ. The book Ross recommended, Judas: The troubling history of the renegade apostle, is available from Amazon at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Judas-troubling-history-renegade-apostle-ebook/dp/B00NLHJLO0.

Learning and development leaders want to improve performance, while providers are willing to take their cash. So why isn't everybody happy? On this week's GoodPractice Podcast: Owen, Gemma and Ross D discuss the latest research from Towards Maturity, showing that only 60% of L&D leaders believe that they have a grasp on the critical questions they need to ask providers. What are the knowledge gaps that need to be filled? And what responsibility do providers have to overcome this challenge? If you'd like to share your thoughts on the show, you can find Owen on Twitter @owenferguson and can leave Ross a message @ross__dickie.  You can also tweet @GoodPractice or @GoodpracticeAus.  The Towards Maturity article discussed on today's show can be found at: https://towardsmaturity.org/2017/03/16/ld-leaders-failing-tap-expertise-providers/.

As technology continues to provide us with more and more ways to stay connected, the boundaries between the office and the home are becoming increasingly blurred. Where once ‘work’ and ‘life’ were regarded as competing forces that had to be held in delicate balance, the focus has now shifted towards finding ways of blending the two. This week on the podcast, Ross Dickie is joined by Owen Ferguson and Justin Anderson to consider exactly what the trend towards ‘work-life’ integration means for L&D. If you'd like to share your thoughts on the show, you can find us on Twitter @ross__dickie, @owenferguson, and @WriterJustin.  You can also tweet @GoodPractice or @GoodpracticeAus. 

Nowadays, self-service is the norm when it comes to shopping for groceries, renting a movie, or even opening a new bank account. The likes of Amazon and Netflix have led us to expect that products and services should be available whenever and wherever we want. But is this trend reflected in learning and development? On this week’s episode, Ross Dickie is joined by Owen Ferguson and podcast-newcomer Ian Wheelans to answer that question. If you'd like to share your thoughts on the show, you can find us on Twitter @ross__dickie, @owenferguson, and @Ianwheelans.  You can also tweet @GoodPractice or @GoodpracticeAus.  You can find an online version of the ‘Map to the Introvert’s Heart’ by Gemma Correll here.

As automation takes over many of our routine tasks, how should HR and L&D professionals respond? Do they have the skills to focus on improving 'organisational effectiveness' or will they be left behind as business leaders increasingly seek answers elsewhere? If you'd like to share your thoughts on the show, you can find us on Twitter @RossGarnerGP, @petercasebow, @GoodPractice or @GoodpracticeAus. Andrew Lambert and Andy Newall's HR Magazine interview can be found here: http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/article-details/a-blueprint-for-hr-now-and-in-the-future You can also read articles constituting their 'New HR Blueprint' at the following addresses: http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/article-details/a-new-hr-blueprint-capabilities-and-careers http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/article-details/a-new-hr-blueprint-organisational-effectiveness http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/article-details/a-new-hr-blueprint-from-hr-admin-to-employee-services Stephen King's On Writing can be purchased through Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-Stephen-King-x/dp/1444723251    

Most of us working in L&D will have come across pop psychology in one form or another, but what are the actual psychological insights that can guide our practice? On this week's episode of the GoodPractice Podcast, Sukh Pabial joins Owen and Ross to share his thoughts on psychology and behavioural economics. If you'd like to share your thoughts on the show, you can find us on Twitter @RossGarnerGP, @owenferguson, and @SukhPabial.   You can also tweet @GoodPractice or @GoodpracticeAus.    Sukh's Moana video can be seen here: http://www.ellentv.com/videos/0-n0s4vtdw/   His less cheery dystopian article is available from The Guardian at: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/feb/26/robert-mercer-breitbart-war-on-media-steve-bannon-donald-trump-nigel-farage.   Nudge by Thaler and Sunstein is available from Amazon at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nudge-Improving-Decisions-Health-Happiness/dp/0141040017   The Guardian's podcast episode on nudge theory is available from: https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2017/feb/22/nudge-theory-the-psychology-and-ethics-of-persuasion-science-weekly-podcast    And Freakonomics have also covered this, which you can find here: http://freakonomics.com/tag/david-halpern/   The dates Ross used to describe the division of the Bible into chapters were wildly inaccuarte. Wikipedia has an interesting page on this topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapters_and_verses_of_the_Bible

In the social media age, has print journalism had its day? And is it possible to host a good webinar? On this week's episode of the GoodPractice podcast, Training Journal Deputy Editor Jo Cook joins Ross and James to discuss the ways that learning and development professionals share ideas.   If you'd like to share your thoughts on the show, you can find us on Twitter @RossGarnerGP, @jamesmcluckie, and @LightBulbJo.   You can also tweet @GoodPractice or @GoodpracticeAus.    Training Journal can be found at www.trainingjournal.com and Jo's website is www.lightbulbmoment.info.   If you want to find out more the blogs and articles we referenced, you can find a complete list below:   Laura McCallum's article, '27 Rarely Known Facts About Music And The Music Industry' can be found here: http://www.knowable.com/a/27-rarely-known-facts-about-music-and-the-music-industry    Elizabeth Kolbert's article on 'Why Facts Don't Change Our Minds' can be found at: www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/02/27/why-facts-dont-change-our-minds    And Christian Jarrett's blog on how we recall Tweets can be found at: https://digest.bps.org.uk/2016/03/29/did-you-really-understand-that-post-you-just-retweeted/    Incidentally, you should all follow Christian Jarrett on Twitter @psych_writer

What does a facilitator actually do? Who needs one? And what on Earth is an unconference? In this week’s GoodPractice podcast, Justin Anderson and Owen Ferguson are joined by ‘Delightful Goddess’ ™ Julie Drybrough, director of Fuchsia Blue, founder of the Facilitator Shindig and unconference organiser, to answer these questions and more. If you have any thoughts on the show, you can tweet us @WriterJustin, @owenferguson, and @fuchsia_blue. You can also tweet @GoodPractice or @GoodpracticeAus. If you want to find out more about some of the things we discussed, links are below: L&D Connect are on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LnDConnect and have their own website: https://ldconnect.wordpress.com/ The article Julie mentions about ‘Contagion in banks’ is here: http://www.thenetworkthinkers.com/2009/02/contagion-amongst-banks.html?m=1

If 2016 saw learning and development professionals gushing about the potential of virtual reality, then 2017 has seen them start to test those ideas. But where does it work well and what are the barriers to us all creating VR content? On this week's episode of the GoodPractice podcast: Owen and Ross are joined by Marco Faccini from Immerse Learning, one of the few companies actively pursuing VR's potential for learning. If you'd like to share your thoughts on the show, you can find us on Twitter @RossGarnerGP, @owenferguson, and @marcoable. You can also tweet @GoodPractice or @GoodpracticeAus.  Immerse Learning can be found at www.immerselearning.com. If you want to find out more the blogs and articles we referenced, you can find a complete list below: Stanley Grauman Weinbaum's 'Pygmalion's Spectacles', a short story from his collection A Martian Odyssey and Others, is available for free at http://www.historyofinformation.com/expanded.php?id=4543. The New York Times' 360 Video series is available from their website at https://www.nytimes.com/video/360-video. The Fourth Transformation, by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel, is available from Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Fourth-Transformation-Artificial-Intelligence-Everything-ebook/dp/B01M5JKW3Z. Daniel Kahneman's response to priming experiments can be found at https://replicationindex.wordpress.com/2017/02/02/reconstruction-of-a-train-wreck-how-priming-research-went-of-the-rails/comment-page-1/#comment-1454.