Ive been teaching and conducting seminars for quite some time, and theres always a very interesting thing that happens when its evaluation time.

I get unusually thin-skinned.

Heres the scene. Ive just taught my heart out, possibly at UCLA Extension, or at a clients 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 theres 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; its anger or jealousy or both that comes through.

So, facing a positive overall score, tendered by the great majority of students, Im feeling badly because I not only didnt 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 heres mine, what I need to remind myself after Ive tried so hard, and still, Ive 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, youll have detractors, and actually this is a sign that you ARE someone significant.

Dont make your detractors more important or influential than they are!