Context Matters with Amanda Bell

On today's episode I talk with Dr. Giavanni Washington, a Black Goddess Guide and the creator of the only oracle deck featuring real black women embodying African goddesses. We talk about how black people have been disconnected from their history and have been pushed out of spiritual spaces. Dr. Washington has made it her mission to help address this balance.

Enjoy this fabulous discussion about reconsidering black bodies and reconsidering the source of these black bodies. The wisdom in the deck is for everybody in everybody!

Preorder her oracle deck which comes out Dec 12th by visiting her website at https://www.drgiavanniwashington.com/deck or find her on Instagram @blackgoddesswithin

Today, Brooke Hofsess and I talk about self-expressed leadership as a lens for understanding how folks can show up as leaders. We talk about the five qualities of self expressed leadership: presence, congruence, reverence, interdependence, and divergence and how self-expressed leadership invites other people into their fullest expression, and how that creates a sense of connection and belonging.

Brooke's framework is a great example of the alignment between content and methods, where leadership is the connective tissue that grows as you practice and live into these expressions of yourself. What has your experience of self expressed leadership looked like?

You can find Brooke online at www.brookehofsesscoaching.com/

Sign up for her fabulous newsletter at https://www.brookehofsesscoaching.com/podcasts

Today we will continue our discussion with Luke Givens about perceptions around data and how they are a helpful lens to have effective and productive conversations. Our perceptions around data may differ but we can still work together towards an efficient outcome.

How does work happen at your workplace? Often there is a disconnect between what we say we are doing and what is actually happening. What does working with others look like for you? These are just some of the issues that we will be diving into in this episode.

Today Luke Givens shares his knowledge and experience on the podcast around organizational development and, of course, data! Luke and I worked together on projects centering equity and data. We talk about how information travels throughout an organization and how having this kind of data can help get results.

There's a big difference between presenting data and knowing what the data can accomplish. We'll discuss the different roles of people within an organization so that data actually gets used and strategies that can help you get the most out of your data, manage expectations and reach your goals.

Stay tuned for part 2 of this discussion in the next podcast…

Today's podcast features Jess Reed, a professional home organizer. Her company Green Mountain Space, specializes in eliminating the emotional burdens of clutter for folks like busy professionals, stay-at-home parents, and retirees to create a beautiful, functional, and sustainable organized home.

We will discuss organizing space and time in terms of context matters and the difference between macro-organizing and mico-organizing. When it comes to your stuff, what is your goal and what is important to you? If things aren't bringing you happiness, why are you keeping them? Join us as we discuss this holistic approach to decluttering and how we can confront the clutter and start making changes with schedules and time tracking.

To find out more about her company Green Mountain Space, visit her website: http://www.greenmountainspace.com/ . Find them also at the Asheville Chamber of Commerce.

On today's episode we'll talk about our relationship to time management and how it relates to our productivity. And of course, we'll talk about data!

I talk about how time blocking/time management and our routines can often be idealized versions of the ways that we can live our lives. I also talk about some of the cultural beliefs that we have internalized about what we are supposed to be doing. And guess, what, data is a solution!

We haven't been given enough experience and skills to understand what actually does work for us in terms of managing our time. We throw out the baby with the bathwater – we deem lots of our time management as "bad" but actually they are contributing to our productive behavior and might even be productive in and of themselves!

I talk a little bit about a new offer I have, Your Efficient Sustainable Time Management plan, a miniature time study! This information will help us to find the types of things you need to do to be productive.

I'll leave you with these questions to think about:

• Where did you learn what productivity and time management looks like?

• How do you prioritize process over outcome?

• How do you value the things you value by giving them time?

• How do you celebrate the fact that you've done that?

• How do you distinguish between your feelings and perceptions of how things are going and what is actually happening?

I am so excited to be joined by Shannon Tabor, a Somatic Trauma Therapist with a specialization in somatics and Internal Family Systems (IFS) = a way in which we can understand ourselves and others through a nonpathological lens. Learning how our body speaks to us through sensations, temperature, etc. is extremely helpful when trying to figure out how we navigate the world and our experiences. In the end, nothing is good or bad or even right or wrong.

IFS and the body is a helpful lens to look at the workplace and the information that we use to navigate the workplace. It encourages self awareness! It's a different way to be in the world!

Resources mentioned: https://ifs-institute.com/ and this book https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/55384168

Shannon can be found at https://www.aligncounselingandcoaching.com/connect

In today's episode, I talk about how it's hard to do data differently, information proliferation - the consumption and sharing of information - and how we got to where we are today when it comes to information.

As a society, we have access to SO much information all the time and there are so many tools and methods that help us access that information. This makes it difficult to narrow down what is the data that we really need? Hello….information overload!?!

So join me today as we talk about what to do with all of this information and what frameworks we can use to help us feel successful instead of overwhelmed. Involve your data people early on in the process and have the confidence to live in the context of holding that nuance as a leader. I'll leave you with these questions to ponder: What are the things that you can control and what are the things that you cannot? What is the context that you work in and can you name it?

In this episode, I talk about how to shift workplace data practices and broaden the picture of what information helps organizations thrive. These shifts can move the needle on empowering folks to advocate for themselves and their organization with data.

So what do I mean by "data?" What qualifies as data and who gets to decide this?? Data is a systematic way of looking at a bunch of information that has some particular bounds. But who gets to say what those bounds are and what guidelines they must follow?

It's time to bring some new tools into the data and informed decision making process. Doing data differently is a challenge and it takes time. Here are some helpful links:

In the podcast, I talk about the visual at this link https://www.zazzle.com/poster-228276710365015813?rf=238354100321839023

Some examples of folks broadening out how they do data with organizations

• Hmnt Cntrd (UX design and research) https://www.hmntycntrd.com/community

• We All Count (Heather Krauss and team) Data Biography https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ych5dzBfGLoQGYb-Jtq6VMn0PKdj_Y_tk6nGjopEduw/edit#gid=0

In today's episode, we talk about what efficiency means in organizations and what it can look like to model human centered efficiency. I don't know about you but I have been both extremely curious and disgusted by the idea of being efficient. Why does efficiency even matter? Basically it's a means to an end.

I leave you with some easy ways to make efficiency more human centered for you in the workplace, through daily time tracking (link to time tracking sheet below), listing out your non-negotiables, and to think about where you learned about being efficient at work? Is it helpful or is it not?

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6117f124e306641394ca013d/t/6216891b4172ca61ead43a12/1645644060126/context+matters+time+tracker.pdf