Recently I met with two people looking for a project management training. Preferably a standard one that would fit their needs. In 55 minutes I could not understand what other issue besides hoping to spend a day away from work they were trying to solve. After that I left.
In 1885 Hermann Ebbinghaus discovered that people forget about 50% of what they are told within an hour if it is not immediately applied. This is news to people thinking of training interventions as a default solution to performance problems. If people can perform a task when their life depends on it, it is not a training/skills issue.
The 70/20/10 rule comes from Morgan McCall's research that states people learn about 70% of their skills from doing the work, 20% from observation and 10% from training. If you want to develop yourself or your people, seek out challenging work instead of "training". In case it is a lack of skills issue that can be remedied only through training, keep in mind that it is only 10% of the whole.
"You train animals, but educate people." Maya Angelou.
