Charles: Well, I think there are challenges with measuring any form of learning.

If we want to measure what I call real learning, and thats not just information retention, but principally behavior change. And in fact, Eric Kandel, whos a far greater brain than I am (Eric won his Nobel Prize for memory and learning) described learning as the ability to acquire new ideas from experience, and retain them as memories. So I think that no matter what form of learning were measuring and evaluating, weve got to think about how we do it in a smart way. Simply measuring someones memory retention at the end of a course isnt really measuring learning. Its measuring short-term memory retention, nothing more. So I think with workplace learning, and with the 70:20:10, or the 70 and 20 pieces, we need to first of all decide which assessment method is appropriate for the specific situation. And theres a whole range of assessment approaches that could be used, and Questionmark certainly knows that very well. So we might want to use things such as checks to ensure that learning and skills development are happening. And we might do that through something like observational assessments, to ensure that learning is being applied. We might be doing it through some sort of 360 degree analysis, to understand from individuals, colleagues, and their managers and their reports (about) their learning and development and so on. Or we might be wanting to do it on the go. So we might want to take some sort of mobile assessment approach to it. Theres really a kit bag of a whole range of different approaches that we can use. And for me, once you step outside the classroom into the workplace, it requires a wider range of kit bag. Its almost like playing a pitch-and-putt golf course, and then stepping up to playing an 18 or 36-hole golf course. On a pitch-and-putt, you only need two or three clubs. When you step up to a large 18- or 36-hole golf course, you need a whole bag full of clubs. And I think that the challenge that weve got in terms of measuring within the 70:20:10 framework, and measuring particularly the 70 and the 20 pieces, weve got to think about the whole -- what weve got in our kit bag or in our bag of clubs, because it will require a lot more.

The Learning and Development Roundtable of the Corporate Leadership Council pinpointed three management practices that significantly improve performance. 1. Setting clear expectations and explaining how performance will be measured. 2. Providing stretch experiences that help their team members learn and develop. 3. Taking time to reflect and help team members learn from experience.

Any face-to-face workshops are complemented by the social element, so were mixing the 20 and the 10. The social learning applies directly to what managers are actually doing as part of their roles on a day-to-day basis, so bringing together the 70 and the 20 as well. Giving managers the opportunity to learn from each other through their experience in a social way has been a real success, explains Pedley.

Achieving a Balance
One of the misconceptions around 70:20:10 is that L&D teams slavishly work to get those proportions exactly right. Andrew Parkinson, academy development manager at Tata Steel Europe, says: I believe many companies use the model, but whether they manage it or could demonstrate it is another matter.

Place for Technology

Technology also has a role to play, and not just in managing content for learners or recording who has attended a course. More and more learning management systems now link training interventions directly to someones role and encourage interaction through social-media-style interfaces and links to internal networking platforms such as Yammer. In this way, employers can send out prompts to course cohorts to see whether or not learning has been observed, or facilitate group discussion by hosting a virtual workshop. Measuring the 70% experiential learning component is rarely black and white, however. We see the outcomes of tasks that people perform, but it is almost impossible to work out how they got there and how they acquired the knowledge to do so. Rosemary Bailey, co-founder and director of L&D specialists OnTrack International, says simply recognising that someone can handle something that previously had been out of their comfort zone can provide tangible evidence of success: Its about how you connect any training initiative with whats happening at work and

show how that person has moved on so maybe they lacked confidence to deal with a certain type of conversation before, but they can now.

Introducing 70:20:10 to your organisation

For 70:20:10 to be really effective, there will often need to be a change in the culture of learning at the organisation. Some L&D professionals choose to introduce the concept explicitly to employees, such as Laura Creak, who at a former employer created a video around the 70:20:10 concept to highlight to employees that learning comes in all forms, not just sitting in a classroom. We found that individuals did start responding to categorising and thinking about their learning differently, she says. Of course, this happened in pockets across the organisation and there was undoubtedly room for improvement, but it was a good start to getting individuals to think about learning differently. What is clear is that finding success with the 70:20:10 model involves so much more than blending e-learning with classroom learning, or improving how you record performance in relation to training. It is a massive change of mindset for L&D professionals that will take them far away from content and courses, to stepping into learners shoes and handing employees the tools to acquire the skills they need in a way that they choose.