Wednesday, December 17, 2025

Evolution of 70-20-10 Learning Model

17 Dec 2025, Singapore: 70-20-10 learning model is very personal to me as I introduce the model to my current organization back in 2013/14, after my transfer to head the newly create CoE for Organizational Development (OD). It wasn't easy to get the buy-in of my leader. I was asked to check if there was any copy-right issues and get a written permission from the author and founder of 70:20:10 Institute, Mr. Charles Jennings.




An short introduction of the model

The 70-20-10 Learning Model was developed by Morgan McCall, Michael M. Lombardo, and Robert A. Eichinger, researchers at the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) in the 1980s. They introduced this model based on a survey of 191 executives who reported that

70% of learning comes from on-the-job experiences, such as working on tasks and problems
20% comes from social interactions, like feedback and working with others
10% comes from formal training courses and reading

Their research was published in "The Career Architect Development Planner" in 1996. Jay Cross further popularized the model in his 2003 book "Informal Learning," and Charles Jennings continued to promote it through his work and the 70:20:10 Institute

Evolution of 70-20-10 model

In the early part of 2020s, some learning consultants and organizations (including the one I worked for, a global aerospace company) have started to introduce new terminology to replace the 70-20-10 naming. They replace it with 3 Es and the organization I worked for replace it with ...

Education (10%): E-learning, workshops, research, tools, classifications, and reading;

Exposure (20%): Building communities, networks, connections, mentoring, & coaching;

Experience (70%): Development through on-the-job & new, challenging experiences.

The positive outcomes are they (i) kept the 3 elements and (ii) the percentage as part of their Learning & Development Eco-system.

References

https://en.wikipedia.org on 70-20-10 Learning Model

Guide to 70:20:10 Model

https://www.docebo.com on 70-20-10 Learning Model


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