70-20-10 Learning Framework
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70-20-10 Learning Framework
70-20-10 Learning Framework Company Name: L&D Lead: Learning Management System: Target Audience: MODEL FOUNDATION & ORGANIZATIONAL ALIGNMENT - Educate stakeholders on the 70-20-10 model and its research basis - Assess the organization's current learning mix against the 70-20-10 ratio - Align the 70-20-10 approach with business strategy and capability gaps - Secure leadership sponsorship for a blended learning culture - Define success metrics for each learning component THE 70% — EXPERIENTIAL & ON-THE-JOB LEARNING - Design a catalogue of developmental experiences and stretch assignments - Integrate developmental assignments into career development planning - Establish action learning projects tied to real business challenges - Create structured reflection practices to extract learning from experience - Build manager capability in facilitating on-the-job learning THE 20% — SOCIAL & COLLABORATIVE LEARNING - Establish a formal mentoring program with clear structure and expectations - Launch communities of practice for key skill domains - Implement peer coaching and learning circles - Leverage digital platforms for social and collaborative learning - Integrate coaching into leadership development at all levels THE 10% — FORMAL LEARNING & TRAINING - Curate a targeted formal learning curriculum aligned to capability priorities - Adopt blended learning design principles for all formal programs - Leverage microlearning for just-in-time knowledge delivery - Measure formal learning effectiveness using the Kirkpatrick model - Continuously refresh the formal learning library based on usage and feedback INTEGRATION & CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT - Build a 70-20-10 learning culture through leadership role modelling - Integrate the 70-20-10 framework into performance and development conversations - Track learning activity and investment across all three components - Conduct an annual review of the 70-20-10 learning strategy - Benchmark the learning culture against industry best practices
Everything you need to know
01What Is the 70-20-10 Learning Framework?
The 70-20-10 Learning Framework is a model for how people develop capability at work. It suggests that roughly seventy percent of development comes from challenging experiences and on-the-job practice, twenty percent from social learning through others such as coaching and mentoring, and ten percent from formal training and courses. The point of the ratio is not precision but balance: it reminds organisations that most growth happens through doing and through relationships, not only in the classroom. This framework covers aligning the model with your business, designing each of the three components deliberately, and integrating them so they reinforce one another. It solves a familiar imbalance where learning budgets pour into formal courses while the far larger sources of development go unmanaged.
02Why Companies Use the 70-20-10 Learning Framework
Organisations adopt 70-20-10 when they want more capability growth without simply buying more courses. It fits when formal training feels disconnected from real work, when development stalls after a programme ends, or when leaders want a shared way to talk about how people actually grow. Because it foregrounds experiential and social learning, it pushes managers to think about stretch assignments, mentoring, and reflection as core development tools rather than extras. The framework also helps you allocate learning investment more sensibly, since it reveals how much growth depends on the experiences and relationships you were previously leaving to chance. Used well, it builds a learning culture where development is woven into everyday work instead of confined to a training calendar.
03What the 70-20-10 Learning Framework Covers
The framework has four parts. Foundation and alignment educate stakeholders on the model, assess your current learning mix against the ratio, and secure leadership sponsorship with clear success metrics. The seventy percent covers experiential and on-the-job learning: a catalogue of stretch assignments and action learning tied to real business challenges, plus structured reflection to extract lessons. The twenty percent covers social and collaborative learning through formal mentoring, communities of practice, peer coaching, and learning circles. The ten percent covers formal learning: a targeted curriculum aligned to capability priorities, blended and microlearning design, and effectiveness measured with the Kirkpatrick model. A final integration layer ties the three together through leadership role modelling, embedding the framework in development conversations, and tracking activity and investment across all three components with an annual review.
04How to Use This Free 70-20-10 Template
This free template lays out the model and all three learning components so you can plan without signup. Start by assessing your current mix against the ratio, then edit each component to fit your organisation: list your stretch assignments and action learning projects, define your mentoring and community structures, and curate your formal curriculum. Record success metrics and owners as you go. When your plan is ready, copy it into your working doc, download it as a PDF or DOCX, or open it in Google Docs to share with leaders and managers. Everything is editable so you can refine the balance year over year.
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