70:20:10 Model

The 70:20:10 model is a learning and development framework stating that professionals learn roughly 70% through on-the-job experience, 20% through social interaction with others (feedback, coaching, mentoring), and only 10% through formal training such as courses. The ratio originates from research by Morgan McCall, Michael Lombardo, and Robert Eichinger at the Center for Creative Leadership in the 1980s, based on surveys of successful managers about the sources of their development. Its practical message is that formal courses are a small slice of how capability actually develops, so L&D strategies should deliberately design for experience and social learning — stretch assignments, job rotation, structured feedback, coaching programs, communities of practice — rather than defaulting to course production. The model deserves a critical footnote: the specific numbers come from self-reported retrospective surveys of one population, not controlled measurement, and researchers caution against treating the ratio as a law. Its value is directional, not arithmetic. In practice, 70:20:10 remains one of the most referenced frameworks in corporate L&D and shapes how modern platforms are used: learning systems increasingly support the 90% beyond formal courses through performance support, social features, user-generated content, and integration of learning into the flow of work.