Developing skills in the workplace does not happen solely through formal training. A significant portion of learning takes place in day-to-day exchanges with colleagues, in informal feedback and in observing the practices of peers. The 70-20-10 model makes this clear: 20% of professional skills are acquired through relationships with others. How do you structure these exchanges to maximise their impact? Here are 4 concrete methods for activating peer learning within your teams.
Why Learning from Peers Is More Effective
The 70-20-10 Model: The Evidence in Numbers
The 70-20-10 model was developed in 1980 by Morgan McCall, Robert W. Eichinger and Michael Lombardo, based on a study conducted with 200 executives. It establishes that professional learning is distributed across three sources: 70% comes from direct experience on the ground, 20% from exchanges with colleagues, superiors and mentors, and 10% from formal training.
This finding invites a rethink of priorities: classroom or online training, however well designed, represents only a minority share of genuine skills development. The most significant learning takes place elsewhere, in daily interactions and informal learning, often unconscious, grounded in the principle of self-determined learning. Structuring peer exchanges means drawing on the most powerful lever of skills development.
Three Pedagogical Mechanisms That Make the Difference
If peer learning is more effective, there are specific pedagogical reasons for it. Three mechanisms explain why we learn better and faster with colleagues than in traditional training settings.
The first is what pedagogy calls modelling: observing a peer to draw inspiration from what they do best, taking the best of it and reproducing it in one's own practice. This mechanism works naturally in teams where employees have the opportunity to observe each other's work and draw from it mutually.
The second is the development of a sense of competence through peer feedback. It is through a colleague's perspective that mistakes are corrected most effectively. Without external input, an error eventually becomes embedded in working habits. Working under the supervision of a peer makes it possible to self-correct from the outset, before poor practices become entrenched.
The third mechanism, less well known but equally structuring, is reflective questioning. This involves stepping back from what one is doing, to understand how and why one is learning. Asking a question improves learning on both sides: for the person asking, because it clarifies their own thinking; for the person answering, because it formalises and reinforces their knowledge through the act of transmission.
4 Concrete Methods for Activating Peer Learning
Process Mapping
Process mapping is a collaborative learning technique that involves visually representing "who does what" within a team or department. By working in pairs or small groups, employees share their understanding of each other's activities and lay out their respective representations.
This method serves two complementary purposes: it structures the transfer of know-how by making work processes visible, and it strengthens cooperative relationships between team members. Better understanding the role of others also means working more effectively with them on a day-to-day basis.
Peer Learning
In a peer learning approach, employees are both recipients and transmitters of knowledge. They work together to solve problems or tackle shared challenges, and the individual skills mobilised in this process are shared across the whole group.
This method can be combined with co-development: a group of people working collectively on real professional situations, to develop and enrich the skills of each member. The aim is not only to learn, but to contribute actively to the progress of other team members.
Skills Pairing
Paired working is one of the simplest methods to implement. It involves assigning the same task or responsibility to two employees working together, rather than to one alone. This format naturally encourages skills transfer: the more experienced employee passes on their know-how, whilst the less experienced one brings a fresh perspective.
Beyond direct learning, paired working strengthens team flexibility. Two people trained in the same task means a more resilient organisation, less vulnerable to the absence or departure of a key employee. It is also a concrete lever for developing mutual support and team cohesion.
Best Practice Sharing Groups
This method is built around regular exchanges between peers on a simple question: how do we carry out a given task, and why in this particular way? These discussions allow each participant to refresh their practices, question them and improve them in the light of others' experience.
Best practice sharing groups also promote a gradual alignment of working methods: by progressing collectively from shared practices, teams gain in consistency and effectiveness. This method is particularly well suited to frontline teams, where the transfer of operational know-how is a central challenge for collective performance.
These four methods do not produce the same results in every team or context. What matters is the ability to test several of them, observe which generate the most engagement and genuine learning, and adjust accordingly. When well structured, peer learning is a powerful lever: it allows every employee to progress, whilst strengthening the overall performance of the team.
