“The effective use of conversations is one of the most important challenges learning and development teams face in producing successful solutions to business problems. The challenge is to move from designing learning solutions around knowledge acquisition towards those whose aim is to help development of ‘real’ learning and understanding.
These are two very different things.”Charles Jennings, former Chief Learning Officer at Reuters.
The 70:20:10 model suggests how learning and development most effectively happens in the workplace. It proposes that 70% of learning comes from our on-the-job experience, experimentation, and reflection, 20% from interactions with others, and 10% from formal learning initiatives.
For over 30 years, the 70:20:10 model has been a highly effective, holistic approach to learning which can be adapted to any workplace. Rather than being a rigid formula, it is a guideline adaptable to the specific needs of employees and their organization. This basic model of hands-on experience, conversations, and formal training initiatives remains an important guiding principle for any effective learning and development strategy in our current age of hybrid, digital work.
The main challenge for L&D professionals in any workplace (on-site, hybrid, or remote) is to better integrate the ‘20’ of social learning initiatives into the workflow.
Let’s take a step back for a moment. The core elements of many leadership development programs tend to be the following:
- (Video) Lectures to deliver content;
- Self-directed micro-learning to reinforce and integrate the content;
- eLearning for self-directed learning;
- Coaching and mentoring in dyads;
- Self-assessment to stimulate self-awareness of aptitudes, strengths, and weaknesses.
Most of these methods overemphasize the ‘10’ while failing to explore the scope of powerful benefits that the ‘20’ offers employees and the organization overall.
Peer Group Learning Provides Impact for the ’20’
Beyond mentoring and coaching in dyads, consider what peer learning in small groups can provide to the ‘20’ of the 70:20:10 model:
Knowledge sharing: Peer group learning provides opportunities to share best practices and lessons learned from multiple colleagues. Peer learning sessions help participants better understand how the organization really works — and where it struggles. The focus should be on practical learning within the unique organizational context.
Relationship Building: Authentic discussions around issues that matter to employees strengthen relationships and build trust. Insight sharing, “friendly consulting”, and active listening enable colleagues to be authentic with each other and foster collaboration rather than competition. Such relationships will help people get things done more smoothly.
Employee Wellbeing: Social learning in peer groups breaks the isolation hybrid/remote employees may be feeling. As employees connect to share their own unique perspectives and ideas, their sense of wellbeing is strengthened as is their engagement with their workplace.
Reinforcement of Organizational Values and Culture: Allowing people to get together live or virtually, share issues, and support each other helps to promote the desired organizational culture.
Continuous Learning: Social learning provides opportunities for employees to ask questions, communicate challenges, and creatively collaborate in a timely manner. It fosters professional development and growth through new ideas, competency building, promoting opportunities for emergent strategies to arise.
CoachingOurselves Peer Learning
CoachingOurselves has been creating peer group learning discussion guides for 15 years with the full understanding that peer group learning, reflection, and dialogue are key to organizational resiliency. Each of our topics is a structured discussion guide written by a leading expert around a specific theme.
Use CoachingOurselves to run leadership cafés, host regular monthly sessions for continuous learning, or deliver knowledge sharing sessions for a team with specific needs. The CoachingOurselves catalogue has almost 100 peer learning topics to choose from.
Social learning is even more important in the post-pandemic, hybrid workplace. To discover CoachingOurselves, we invite you to try it yourself at our demo session or contact us to learn how you can get started with peer learning for your leaders.
