There are two places to look when trying to understand and improve your own encounters with negativity:

External Issues
NOs can result from a number of factors: competing priorities, others’ desire to avoid change, group norms and culture, red tape and bureaucracy, financial contingencies, difficult personalites, and politics, among others. All these are problems in your environment and with other people.

Internal Issues
NOs can also result from your own negative thinking, as well as your failure to prepare, present, and persist in pursuit of what’s important to you. These are self-inflicted problems within you.

DO YOU WORK IN THE LAND OF NO?
Read each of the statements below and decide whether or not it describes your working environment. [Keep track of how many times you answer Yes or No.]

  1. New ideas are welcomed and appreciated where I work.


  2. Taking initiative to improve things is an important part of our organization’s culture.


  3. Most of the time, it’s easy to get ideas and suggestions approved where I work.


  4. Questioning the status quo is encouraged at all levels in our organization.


  5. Trying new things, launching pilot projects, and conducting experiments are all part of how we operate on a regular basis.


  6. Risk-taking is typically encouraged. A certain amount of failure is accepted as a part of how we grow, individually and collectively.


  7. Most everyone where I work operates by the unwritten motto “Find a way to say YES.”


  8. Leaders set the tone for the organization—seeking input from all levels, giving new ideas fair and timely consideration, while keeping red tape to a minimum.