What's Missing in 70/20/10?

Wendy Tan

Author, Keynote Speaker & Managing Partner of Flame Centre | Human Skills Institute

Updated 28 May 2024

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Beyond 70/20/10

Those in the learning and development world will know about 70/20/10. It's almost taken as a gospel to plan one's development and create a learning plan.

1. Experience 70% - e.g., projects at work

2. Exposure 20% - e.g., mentors & experts

3. Education 10% - e.g., degree programs and courses

My contention is these learning activities do not guide our learning process. They are useful, but by themselves, incomplete. This is because 70/ 20/ 10 is only about stimulus or inputs to our learning. There is no focus on reflection and we know reflection is key to changing our mind. There is also little emphasis on feedback. Without feedback, we don't know if the way we have application the learning is correct. Neither do we know how to improve.

For example, what happens, after we participate in a project, speak to a mentor, or attend a course? How do we design our learning process, so we take 2 hours to learn something, instead of 8?

Four Types of Activities For the Adult Learning Process

From my in-depth interviews with 25 professionals on how they upskilled to be successful in their career changes, I discovered four types of activities that contribute to the adult learning process:

1. Stimulus - Identify multiple types of learning resources so that learners benefit from the unique affordances that each offer

2. Reflection - Provide time and space for learners to reflect using guided

questions

3. Application - Create an avenue for learners to share or apply their new knowledge, which helps organize thoughts and test new

behaviours

4. Feedback - Ensure learners have access to credible feedback sources that can provide insights into the learning

Skillfully weaving together these four types of activities in a process, we can almost learn anything with agility and transfer our learning to impact at work. Most importantly, the process deepens and widens our learning which keeps us going, making learning stimulating and fun!

Learn more about this accelerated learning process in my article published by TD, Association for Talent Development.

“Wendy Tan takes a holistic approach in helping teams and organizations understand the practical ways of building a conducive environment to encourage continuous learning. Wendy’s work is particularly important and relevant in the current climate with a heightened level of uncertainties. Wendy has an energetic speaking style and she offers practical advice that provide the audience with useful takeaways.” - Vivien Li, Director, Human Resources, Global Equality & Inclusion, Quest Software

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To hone your learning agility, check out my book, Learning Agility: Relearn, Reskill, and Reinvent for more research-based insights and actionable strategies.

Or if you're ready to build an empowered learning culture, let’s schedule a time to chat.

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