I've been teaching and conducting seminars for quite some time, and there's always a very interesting thing that happens when it's evaluation time.

I get unusually thin-skinned.

Here's the scene. I've just taught my heart out, possibly at UCLA Extension, or at a client's site or another venue, and there are thirty participants in front of me, eager to split to start their weekends.

A proctor hands out the computer scored documents as I wait in the hall. Slowly, my students emerge, most of them shaking my hand, thanking me for the course, while others stand by with a question to ask.

I thought I did well. I covered the material, we shared a lot of insights and at least a few good laughs, and everyone got "value.”

But within a few days, as the evaluations are tallied and the results are sent to me, this rosy picture changes because there's a dark cloud marring an otherwise clear blue sky.

One student bashed me, giving me nearly all "ones” on a nine-point scale. His or her comments are completely off the mark. Somehow, this person seems more than disappointed; it's anger or jealousy or both that comes through.

So, facing a positive overall score, tendered by the great majority of students, I'm feeling badly because I not only didn't "reach” someone, but I offended him, without knowing it, and I have no feedback that gives me guidance as to how I can avoid this outcome in future sessions.

When I was in graduate school, one of my savvy professors said, with respect to teaching evaluations: "You could replace all of these questions with just one: Did you like this guy?”

He has a point, and here's mine, what I need to remind myself after I've tried so hard, and sti

ll, I've ended up with one of these disparaging evaluations:

Each trainee or student only gets one opinion, one evaluation, and one vote. If you take them too seriously, and you attribute to them too much significance, you can inadvertently make them a majority.

A wise person once said, if you are doing anything visible and meaningful, you'll have detractors, and actually this is a sign that you ARE someone significant.

Don't make your detractors more important or influential than they are!

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