70-20-10 impactful learning

5 tips to apply education and training to your dynamic and professional work environment. How do you make 70-20-10 applicable? 

  

70-20-10 has been used in learning and development for decades and for good reason. It is a very pragmatic principle that helps to offer learning in a nice mix in the most effective way. It helps to make a blend of formal and informal learning and also  theoretical and application-oriented learning. What does 70-20-10 stand for? 

  

70% workplace learning 

20% learning through collaboration and through coaching and feedback 

10% learning through formal training (classroom, online) 

  

1. Formulate a learning objective. Link your learning goal to what you and your organization find important, make it concrete. This way you also determine whether it will be 70-20-10 or a bit more 65-20-15. Think carefully about the verb you use in your learning objective, which determines what knowledge or skill is involved. If you want the team to utilize something, choose application, for example. If you want something to be created, think of designing or producing. For more inspiration, take a look at Bloom’s taxonomy.

  

2. Create space to learn. Connect with the culture of your company. What fits and is acceptable? Relinquish control and have the guts to experiment with self-directed learning and see making a mistake as a learning experience, it’s allowed… really.

  

3. Training as a resource. Skills are more important than certificates and degrees, right? By seeing training as a means instead of a goal, you learn more efficiently, you aim for the learning goal. Because of on-the-job training, you always have the (up to date) tools available and this learning intervention is automatically tailor-made, because it is your own workplace. Because of  continuous repetition (every working day) on the workfloor, it takes root.

  

4. Divide the learning journey into four? threes. Once you have determined your learning goal, determine what you will learn in a training course, in collaboration with colleagues and what yo can learn in the workplace. Also keep an eye on safeguarding the newly learned behaviour. Make it manageable.

  

Instruction and explanation (e-learning, training or workshop) 

  

Watch with a colleague, start a conversation with a colleague about ‘how do you approach it?’ or let colleagues who have been to a training share their knowledge with others. 

  

Go do it, get to work! 

  

Ask for feedback, learn from your experiences and keep getting better 

  

  

5. Create support. From employee to manager. Do not take the employee out of the work context, but support learning on the job. Set a good example as a manager and learn from each other. Do an ‘internship’ in another department or swap days with a colleague, then you will learn from your colleagues.