Your employees aren't learning much in those training sessions you're paying for.
That's not an opinion—it's cognitive science. When people sit passively absorbing information without applying it, most of that knowledge evaporates within days. The 70-20-10 framework didn't create this reality—it simply describes what cognitive science has confirmed: humans develop skills primarily through repeated practice, not passive listening.
The 70-20-10 framework says that 70% of learning happens through on-the-job experiences, 20% through informal coaching, and 10% through formal classroom training.
The 70-20-10 model has some critics. The numbers are too neat, they say. The research wasn't rigorous enough. It's oversimplified.
They're missing the point entirely.
The 70-20-10 model isn't meant to be a scientific law—it's a practical framework that captures something most organizations still struggle to act on: people learn by doing, not by sitting in classrooms. The exact percentages might be debatable, but the principle behind them is solid.
Here's why the 70-20-10 framework still matters, and why dismissing it is costing your organization real money.
What 70-20-10 Really Means (and Doesn't Mean)
Back in the 1980s, researchers at the Center for Creative Leadership found a pattern in how executives developed their skills, and the pattern became known as the 70-20-10 rule.
Yes, the numbers are suspiciously neat-and-tidy. I grant that to the critics. But, again, they miss the point:
The numbers are meant to be directional, not decimal-point precise.
Focusing too much on the exactness of the percentages misses the larger truth they represent: most long-term learning happens outside formal training settings.
The Science That Backs the Principle
The underlying principle of the 70-20-10 framework aligns with 130+ years of cognitive research.
Hermann Ebbinghaus discovered the Forgetting Curve 100 years earlier, in 1885. 70-80% of new information fades within 24 hours without reinforcement. After a month, it's nearly all gone. This "forgetting curve" explains why one-time training sessions yield such poor memory retention. Today, research still confirms the Forgetting Curve.
Research also shows that developing behavioral habits takes about 10 weeks of consistent practice. For work-related skills, these repetitions are most effective when they occur in the actual context where the skill will be used.
Development is about behavior change. If training is forgotten and doesn't lead to behavior change, it's falling short. The Forgetting Curve tells us why employees forget.
So, how do we fight this natural forgetting? Application, repetition, and context—all elements of on-the-job learning. The 70-20-10 model is simply describing where behavior change happens.
The Gap in Workplace Learning
You'd never know most learning happens on the job if you looked at a typical L&D budget. Most resources go to classroom sessions and e-learning modules, training that takes employees out of their work. If the 70-20-10 model is even close to accurate, the budgets are backwards.
The 70-20-10 model reminds us that learning happens best when people tackle real challenges in the workplace, receive feedback, make mistakes, and try again. Learning happens through the daily experience of work itself.
Putting This Knowledge to Work
If organizations want to drive real behavior change, they can't just rely on pulling employees out of their work to sit through training sessions. The solution lies in flipping this approach: deliver learning where work actually happens.
The most effective approach to on-the-job training involves three key elements:
- Brief, practical activities that employees complete during their regular work. Think of coaching-style assignments that take less than a minute to understand but create practice opportunities throughout the day.
- Concrete, measurable challenges like "Decline one meeting this week where your presence isn't required" or "Reduce a recurring meeting you own to 25 minutes and conclude on time." Very simple examples. But when an entire department practices better meeting habits, the results can be measured.
- Behavior-focused measurement that tracks actual impact rather than simply completion rates—measure time saved, track self-assessments, and gather manager observations about behavior change in their direct reports. Activities should target behaviors that are specific, measurable, and meaningful to the business.
The goal is measuring how learning activities translate into actual workplace behaviors and performance improvements. This practical measurement approach provides talent leaders with concrete evidence of learning effectiveness, demonstrating the business impact of their L&D initiatives.
The Truth About How We Learn
The 70-20-10 model serves as the practical, easy-to-remember version of what cognitive research has been telling us all along. It provides a clear framework that helps organizations focus their efforts where learning most naturally happens: on the job.
The numbers might be approximate, but the principle of 70-20-10 is sound: if you want real behavior change, you need to move learning out of the classroom and into the workplace.
For talent leaders looking to drive meaningful performance improvements, the imperative is clear: it's time to realign your L&D investments with how people actually learn. The organizations that bridge this gap first will gain a significant competitive advantage through faster skill development, higher engagement, and measurable business impact.