Learning with the 70:20:10 Model

The classic further training measures of a few years ago, such as external seminars, conferences or further training, no longer have a 100% satisfactory effect for many companies today. They are often associated with high costs, a lot of time and the loss of work that occurs during them. In addition, these classic forms of continuing education often do not have an effective and sustainable learning effect.

So should they be written off completely? – No, not that. But the world is changing and so is our way of learning and the demands on different forms of further education, especially among younger generations. This means that alternatives must be found or supplementary methods such as the 70:20:10 model must be used to ensure learning success and satisfactory personnel development in the long term.

The 70:20:10 model offers a good option, because it combines different ways of learning. What exactly the 70:20:10 model is and how it can be integrated into everyday business life, we will explain in the further course of the article.

What Does 70:20:10 Mean?

The 70:20:10 model is a concept of informal learning. This can be consciously used to effectively promote personnel development directly in the company itself. The model was developed from the results of a study by Bob Eichinger with executives in the 1980s, in which those involved were asked how they had learned their knowledge most effectively for professional life.

Ask yourself for a moment, how do you learn in the most sustainable way? Most will probably now answer with “learning by doing” and that is exactly what the study revealed. 70% of the knowledge was acquired by the respondents through the active mastering of challenges or complex work tasks, 20% through the direct professional environment, e.g. by observing colleagues or superiors, and only 10% was learned through classic further training courses.

These three essential learning methods are combined in the 70:20:10 model:

70% – Active Application

Mastering challenges yourself and growing from them still has the strongest and most sustainable learning effect today. Therefore, it is important to focus on the application of knowledge and practice in practice or in everyday work. Of course, a certain theoretical knowledge must be available for this, which should be acquired through the following possibilities.

20% – Learning from Others

Everyone starts from scratch at the beginning of their professional life and must first be trained by experienced people or superiors. This is done either actively by these people passing on their knowledge or demonstrating things, or by observing them at work and learning in the process. This principle runs through the entire professional career, as there are always things that have to be learned anew, even when changing jobs, companies or jobs. This also means paying attention to a good induction of new employees in order to lay a good foundation for the long-term quality of work and the independent completion of tasks. This is the specific and practical knowledge that can be passed on personally and not learned through theory-based learning materials such as textbooks.

10% – Classic Learning

The classic forms of learning are part of this, such as seminars, training courses, lectures, as they have been known for a long time. This is where theoretical and technical knowledge is imparted, usually by external experts. Although this form of learning is still important and should therefore not be completely omitted, it does not have such a strong and lasting effect as the two informal forms of learning just mentioned.

How Can the 70:20:10 Model Be Applied in the Company?

In order to be able to successfully use the 70:20:10 model, it is important that personnel development understands its role in it. It is no longer just about creating, planning and implementing learning content for seminars, but above all about designing the employees’ workplace in such a way that it is also seen as a place of learning and can be used optimally for this purpose. The conscious use of informal learning is an important aspect for the successful implementation of this method for all those involved.

Step 1 – Clarify the Objective

In the first step, HR developers must question what goal they and the company are actually pursuing with personnel development. Should there be personnel development that relies on classic knowledge transfer and thus increases employee satisfaction in the short term, but does not offer a satisfactory learning effect in the long term? Or should there be personnel development that sustainably promotes the performance of employees and enables them to actively educate and learn in the daily work environment?

Once the goal is clear, the next step can be to tackle the required concept, the available resources and the actual implementation of the desired form of personnel development.

Step 2 – Integration of the Learning Concept

Implementation of the 70%

When integrating the 70:20:10 model, it is important to look at how active learning can be integrated into the everyday work of each individual, for example by delegating more demanding tasks or handing over responsibility to employees. This can be done with small things and does not mean that the employee has to be assigned a new position or a completely different area of responsibility immediately. It is important to start small and then build on it and, above all, to support employees and not leave them alone.

Evalea supports this part in the following ways:
Through simple and digitally created Surveys you can quickly find out how the learning culture in the company is currently structured and whether it already supports this type of informal learning. By obtaining Feedback can also be used to determine directly what is already working and what is not, so that informal learning can be quickly optimized. The Modules Employee appraisals & Goals help to identify skills gaps and define focus areas that help to define tasks and goals in such a way that they promote informal learning.

Implementation of the 20%

In order to implement active learning in this way, managers or experienced colleagues must be available to support employees and support them in mastering the new challenges if necessary. These people should be aware of their role as helpers and advisors and should be prepared for this. When providing support, special care should be taken to ensure that employees still carry out the tasks themselves. This is the only way to ensure the learning effect.

Evalea supports this part in the following ways:

If there is no time for the experienced colleague or supervisor to sit down at the desk right next to the employee to show them things, there is the possibility of a decentralized E-Learning or create a wiki post with Evalea. There, the colleague/supervisor can record his or her personal knowledge digitally, which the employee can then access independently at any time. By obtaining Feedback or with the help of a Survey this process can be re-evaluated to see if everything is running effectively and efficiently, or how satisfied stakeholders are with this opportunity.

Implementation of the 10%

To ensure that a basis of theoretical knowledge is also available, it is advisable to provide employees with a certain amount of time during the day or week in which they can acquire it independently in the classic way. For example, this can be an hour or 30 minutes every Friday morning that is firmly blocked in the calendar for each employee. Every company can find the right implementation for itself.

Evalea supports this part in the following ways:

The module Seminar management makes the planning and organization of continuing education digital, making it much easier and clearer. With the continuing education catalogue and E-Learning enables self-determined learning and makes it more efficient. By digitally expressing a desire for further training, tailor-made offers can be found for each employee and no wish is lost. The Learning Journey helps to grasp and accompany the entire learning process over a longer period of time. With the module Evaluation the success of the learning transfer can be measured without any problems at the end. We explain why this should definitely be done in the following section.

Step 3 – Review Success

Once the implementation has been firmly integrated into everyday work and has run for some time, surveys can be used to see how well the implementation actually works and how satisfied everyone involved is with it. For example, it could be asked whether the planned time for classic learning can always be adhered to or not. Based on this, any need for improvement can be identified and implemented for the future.

The evaluation of such processes is enormously important in order to actually find out whether the desired efficiency and effectiveness of the learning model has been achieved or whether there is still a need for optimization. If this does not happen, valuable resources, time and effort may be spent in vain. The right type of evaluation depends on the possibilities in the company and the learning model used, but should always receive the attention it deserves.