So if you are in the training and development field you have probably heard of 70-20-10. My friend Raul C. recently enlightened me on this topic (thank you Raul!).
Based on three decades of research by the Center for Creative Leadership, managers learn 90% by doing, experiencing, communicating and learning from others. To break it down:
- 70% from challenging assignments
- 20% from developmental relationships (learning from others)
- 10% from coursework and training
“Development generally begins with a realization of current or future need and the motivation to do something about it. This might come from feedback, a mistake, watching other people’s reactions, failing or not being up to a task – in other words, from experience. The odds are that development will be about 70% from on-the-job experiences - working on tasks and problems; about 20% from feedback and working around good and bad examples of the need; and 10% from courses and reading,” states researchers Lombardo and Eichinger expressed their rationale behind the 70:20:10 model this way in The Career Architect Development Planner.
When managers learn-by-doing (John Dewey) and receive mentoring/help from others, they are in a better position to take that learning enlightenment and return to teach others... (aka the Joseph Campbell hero path below).
According to a Deloitte survey over 79% of Millennials want their managers to be mentors and coaches in their management style.
We need to look at the role mentoring plays in this 70-20-10 model. Especially in a time where more and more people are reporting that they do not have a professional mentor they go to for professional life. In fact, over 50% report to NOT having a mentor at 40+ professional conferences where we ran surveys and polled the audience)
A good mentor:
Shares from his/her experience
Listens
Gives feedback
Tries to help another come to his/her own conclusions
Creates a safe space for communication (and confidentiality)
A mentor might take their mentee to do something experiential together
Cares about their mentees aspirations, goals and successes
A mentor is a lifelong learner and will learn from teaching and invest in his/her mentee
Finds strength and meaning in seeing another human being self-actualize (Mazlov’s hierarchy of needs- plus!)
I was speaking with some leaders from Gannett Corporation and they shared with me that in a 2015 survey, 100% of their senior leaders felt that they got to where they are today thanks to a mentor.
Can you think of your own 70-20-10 learning and what role mentors have played (or not played) in your career? Perhaps you didn’t use the word mentor before, but if that person’s help led you well onto your path, let’s stop now and reflect on that... and them.
Love to hear from you and learn from your experiences! Contact us info@twomentor.com
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Julie Silard Kantor helps leaders build their living legacies through mentorship and sponsorship. She and her team at Twomentor, LLC are helping to build a much-needed mentoring revolution through thought living-legacy leadership work, mentor training, mentor culture building, Mentor Road Trip™ flash mentoring web sessions and more in many sectors. Two adages that drive us are:
1] The people who mentor at your company are the people who drive retention at your company
2] If you want more diversity (i.e. women in STEM), mentor and sponsor more diversely