Most employers understand the importance of training employees. But it can be easy to limit training to situations when it’s absolutely necessary, say you are onboarding a new hire, promoting an employee to a new role, or the business has invested in new tools or technology.
However, in such a rapidly-changing world, you need to take a more strategic approach to developing employees’ skills (or “upskilling”) to ensure your people have the capabilities and experience the business needs, both now and in the future.
The 70:20:10 model is a framework that can help you create a long-term strategy for employee learning. The model focuses on continuous, on-the-job development rather than isolated training events.
By emphasizing practical and social learning (backed by formal training methods), you can help your workers acquire and implement new skills faster, keeping them adept and engaged. Investing in effective learning and development also makes your business a more attractive place to work, for existing and potential employees.
So let’s have a good look at the 70:20:10 model of learning, what it is, how it can benefit your staff, how to apply it, and some common pitfalls to watch out for.
What is the 70:20:10 model?
The 70:20:10 model (or 70:20:10 principle) is a proven learning framework that asserts 70% of learning and growth typically comes from on-the-job experience, 20% from relationships and social interaction, and 10% from formal training.
The model - researched and developed by the Center for Creative Leadership - aims to maximize professional growth by balancing practical, day-to-day work with collaboration and more structured training methods.
The underlying assumption of the 70:20:10 principle is that leadership and professional skills can be learned, rather than being abilities someone is “born with”.
Components of the 70:20:10 model of learning and development
70% experiential (on-the-job) learning
Under the 70:20:10 model, the bulk of learning comes from hands-on experience at work and can happen at any time. Experiential learning might come from an employee taking on a challenging project or a specified assignment (sometimes called “stretch assignments”) that will broaden their skills. It’s all about tackling problems and reflecting on what worked and what didn't.
20% social learning
As well as on-the-job learning, the 70:20:10 model recognizes the importance of relationships in guiding and supporting learning. This could be in the form of formal mentoring from a professional outside the organization, coaching and feedback from experienced colleagues, or networking with peers or others with specialized skills.
10% formal learning
The final component is formal education or training, whether that is obtaining new qualifications, taking short courses or attending workshops, or other structured educational programs.
Benefits of the 70:20:10 framework
The 70:20:10 framework enhances employee development by putting personal experience at the centre of growth and development. Instead of separating working and learning, it shifts the focus from the theory of formal training to practical development on the job and learning from other people.
To ensure it’s effective, you need to integrate the components into employees’ daily tasks rather than focusing on individual training events.
The 70:20:10 framework supports continuous learning over the whole employment lifecycle and has been shown to speed up skill acquisition, improve knowledge retention, and build self-awareness and confidence.
It’s also cost-effective and builds a company culture of ongoing learning and collaboration that goes beyond formal instruction or one-off training.
Key components and action strategies
70% on-the-job learning
The core of development, focusing on challenging experiences and assignments, solving real problems (and making mistakes), and building practical skills.
- Examples: Increasing job scope, secondments, working with more experienced professionals (“job shadowing”), working groups, work trials and simulations.
- Action: Implement assignments, job rotation, or special projects that broaden employees’ current skills. Also use digital tools to support learning.
20% social learning
Development through relationships, interaction, feedback, and collaboration.
- Examples: Mentoring, coaching, review and feedback sessions.
- Action: Establish formal mentoring programs, create peer-coaching pairs, and schedule regular, structured feedback sessions with employees.
10% coursework and training
Structured training and education that provides foundational knowledge and clarifies and reinforces experiential and social development.
- Examples: In-person workshops, e-learning courses, books.
- Action: Use workshops, e-learning, and formal learning opportunities to support and prepare employees for new assignments and challenges.
How to implement the 70:20:10 model in your workplace
Exactly how you implement the 70:20:10 framework will depend on your workplace, the roles you have, and the goals of your organization and employees. Here is a process to build from:
- Define competency gaps: Identify specific skills the business needs and how they align with company objectives and each individual's development goals.
- Design a development plan: Create an employee development plan that defines objectives and specifies the 70% (projects and experiences), 20% (relationships), and 10% (formal learning). Be sure to match development needs to the experiences, interactions, and training that are most likely to provide that learning.
- Engage managers: For employees to develop most effectively, leaders and managers should act as coaches who facilitate on-the-job learning opportunities, rather than just approving and tracking training.
- Build into culture: Encourage a supportive environment that encourages exploration and collaboration, and allows for mistakes during the learning process.
- Track and review: Regularly get together with employees to analyze progress, treating the 70/20/10 plan as a living document that you review and refine to better achieve your aims.
The 70:20:10 model in practice
Let’s have a look at how you could apply the 70:20:10 methodology in moving a junior salesperson into a more senior role.
Start by identifying the learning objectives and defining the skills and competencies the person needs to succeed in a more senior position, e.g. communication and negotiation skills, problem-solving, data analysis for prospecting and to refine strategy.
Then move to designing the projects, challenging tasks, or stretch opportunities that will allow the person to learn and apply knowledge in work circumstances. That could be hands-on sales experience or providing opportunities to work on larger accounts. The social learning (20%) is all about feedback and knowledge sharing, so that could involve mentorship or coaching from an experienced sales manager.
Behind this sits the targeted, formal learning, such as completing product training modules or training courses to build sales competency and other “softer” skills like communication, listening, and emotional intelligence.
The final component is tracking and reviewing performance against the development objectives and adjusting the balance of learning experiences based on results.
Common mistakes to avoid
The 70:20:10 framework requires rethinking learning and development, so employees don’t just complete training courses or attend events, and instead become better learners as well as improving their performance and workplace impact. Here are some pitfalls that you want to avoid in implementing the 70:20:10 framework.
Over-emphasis on the 10%
It can be tempting to think that the on-the-job experiences and social interaction will take care of themselves in the course of work, and you only need to focus on organizing the formal learning.
But you need to plan and actively track the 70% and 20% components, so the challenging assignments and developmental relationships are targeted and completed, and the formal learning provides the backbone.
Lack of support
Insufficient guidance from managers or lack of time to complete learning tasks will mean employees feel pressured or unsupported, which can lead to a lack of motivation and disinterest.
Managers need to be involved in providing new experiences and challenges that foster learning, as well as providing guidance and feedback to employees.
Treating it as a rule
The 70:20:10 framework works best as a flexible guideline rather than a strict quota. The exact ratio for each employee and situation will probably vary, depending on the work environment and the results you and the employee are aiming for.
This is where the regular review and revision sessions come in. Be sure to build your employee development plans within a solid performance review process, to set realistic goals, track progress, and collaborate on results and refinements.
