You've spent thousands on training. Now what if most of it never makes it to the job?

The biggest challenge we face in Learning and Development isn't creating compelling content or securing budget approval—it's ensuring that what learners absorb during training actually translates into changed behavior at work. Between 70-90% of training content fails to transfer to the workplace. But what if the solution is surprisingly simple? What if, instead of telling employees what to do, we ask them to tell others?​

This is the power of the "saying is believing" effect—a behavioral science principle that's been hiding in plain sight, yet rarely applied in corporate learning environments. In this guide, I'll explore how L&D professionals can harness this counterintuitive strategy to dramatically improve learning transfer.

What Is the "Saying is Believing" Effect?

The saying-is-believing effect is a psychological phenomenon where people come to believe their own messages more strongly after expressing them to others. When you give advice—especially about something you're personally struggling with—you're more likely to follow that advice yourself than if you simply received the same guidance from someone else.​

This operates through several powerful mechanisms. First, there's cognitive dissonance—the mental discomfort we feel when our actions don't align with our stated beliefs. When we advise others to take a specific action, we create internal pressure to follow our own recommendations to avoid feeling hypocritical.

Second, the act of giving advice forces us to organize our thoughts, draw on personal experience, and articulate concrete strategies. This active processing leads to deeper understanding than passive learning ever could. As one researcher put it: "Motivation is not calculus. Often, people know what they need to do to achieve a goal. They're just not doing it."​

The Research That Changes Everything

The evidence for advice-giving as a behavior change intervention is remarkably strong. In a landmark 2019 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers conducted a large-scale field experiment with nearly 2,000 high school students.​

Half of the students were randomly assigned to give advice to younger peers about topics like avoiding procrastination and doing better in school. They answered questions about optimal study strategies and wrote motivational letters to anonymous younger students. The control group completed neutral activities instead.

The results were striking. Students who gave advice earned higher report card grades in both math and their self-selected target class over the entire academic quarter compared to the control group. More importantly, the intervention took an average of just 8 minutes to complete.

What makes this finding even more powerful is that the intervention benefited everyone. Unlike many school-based interventions that only help certain demographic groups, this intervention improved outcomes across all students regardless of gender, race, or socioeconomic status.

Why Traditional Training Falls Short on Transfer

To understand why the saying-is-believing effect matters, we need to acknowledge the fundamental problem with conventional corporate training. Traditional L&D follows a broadcast model: experts deliver content, learners consume it, perhaps complete an assessment, and then return to their jobs where competing priorities, organizational barriers, and ingrained habits conspire against implementation.

The biggest barrier? Time. Research shows that 89% of CHROs cite time away from responsibilities as the primary obstacle to learning and development. But even more dangerous are the hidden barriers: lack of supervisor support, limited opportunities to practice new skills, and organizational cultures that don't reinforce learning.​

The problem intensifies because employees attending corporate training come from different parts of the business with vastly different demands, schedules, pressures, and cultural norms. L&D professionals struggle to account for these contextual factors when designing training. We can't possibly tailor every learning experience to each individual's unique work environment.

How the "Saying is Believing" Effect Solves the Transfer Problem

This is precisely where advice-giving shines. When learners generate their own advice, they automatically customize it based on their personal experiences, current challenges, and specific work context. They're not receiving generic best practices—they're creating personally relevant strategies that account for the very barriers they'll face when trying to apply what they've learned.

Consider what happens in a typical compliance training session versus one that incorporates advice-giving. In the traditional approach, learners watch videos, complete a quiz, and receive a certificate. In an advice-giving approach, after learning about the procedures, participants write advice for a colleague about how to actually follow these procedures in their specific work environment, considering the real constraints they face daily.

The second approach accomplishes several things simultaneously. It forces deeper processing of the material as learners translate abstract principles into concrete actions. It creates commitment through self-persuasion rather than external pressure. And crucially, it surfaces the practical barriers and enablers that learners actually encounter, making implementation far more likely.

Practical Applications for L&D: Five High-Impact Strategies

Strategy #1: Post-Training Advice Letters

At the conclusion of any training program—whether it's leadership development, technical skills, or soft skills training—allocate 10-15 minutes for participants to write an advice letter to a future participant. Provide a simple prompt: "Imagine a colleague who will take this training next month. What advice would you give them about how to actually apply what you learned in your day-to-day work? What challenges might they face, and how can they overcome them?"

This simple exercise reinforces key concepts through active recall. It helps learners identify potential implementation barriers before they encounter them. And it creates cognitive dissonance that makes follow-through more likely.

Strategy #2: Peer Coaching Circles

Establish small peer groups (3-5 people) who attended the same training. Schedule monthly 30-minute virtual sessions where each person brings a specific challenge related to applying the training content. The twist: instead of the trainer or manager providing solutions, other peer group members give advice based on their own experiences and the training principles.

This approach leverages the reality that we learn effectively through discussion with peers. Peer support significantly influences workplace performance by providing emotional support, information exchange, and accountability.

Strategy #3: "Ask Me Anything" Sessions Where Learners Are the Experts

Flip the traditional follow-up session on its head. Instead of bringing back the trainer to reinforce concepts, schedule a session where recent training participants serve as advisors to colleagues who haven't yet completed the training. Position participants as experts who can share practical insights about implementation.

This strategy elevates learners' status and confidence. It creates public commitment, which significantly increases follow-through. And it generates concrete, contextually relevant implementation strategies that formal training often misses.

Strategy #4: Pre-Training Advice as Needs Assessment

Before designing or delivering training, ask your target audience to advise someone else struggling with the same challenge the training will address. For example, before rolling out time management training, ask participants: "If a new hire asked you for advice about managing their workload effectively, what would you tell them?"

This pre-training advice serves as an incredibly rich needs assessment. It reveals what employees already know but aren't doing. It surfaces the real barriers they face. And it primes participants to be more receptive to the training content because they've already engaged with the topic.

Strategy #5: Manager-Facilitated Advice Sessions

Equip managers to conduct brief team discussions where employees who've completed training advise team members on implementation. Provide managers with simple facilitation guides that include prompts like: "What's one technique from the training that you've found most useful?" and "What advice would you give teammates about overcoming obstacles to using these skills?"

This approach addresses the critical role of manager support in learning transfer. Manager support is one of the strongest predictors of whether training transfers to job performance. By positioning managers as facilitators of peer advice rather than sole experts, you reduce their preparation burden while dramatically increasing the likelihood of sustained behavior change.

Addressing Common Concerns and Challenges

"What if employees give bad advice?"

This concern misses the primary mechanism at work. The saying-is-believing effect improves outcomes for the advice giver, not necessarily the receiver. Even if the advice itself is imperfect, the act of generating and articulating it creates cognitive commitment for the person giving it.

You can mitigate quality concerns by providing a structured framework. Instead of completely open-ended advice, give participants prompts that guide them toward evidence-based strategies from the training.

"Won't this take time away from actual training content?"

Research shows that 10-15 minutes of advice-giving can produce measurable behavior change and performance improvements. Compare this to the alternative: hours of training content that never gets applied because there's no mechanism to bridge the knowing-doing gap. The ROI calculation is clear.​

"How do we measure if this actually works?"

Measure actual workplace behavior, not just satisfaction or knowledge retention. Specific metrics might include: behavior change observations by managers (are employees actually applying the training?), performance indicators tied to training objectives (did sales conversion rates improve?), and self-reported application frequency and confidence.

"What if our culture doesn't support this kind of peer learning?"

Start small and build momentum. Begin with a single training program where you incorporate a brief advice-giving exercise. Collect testimonials from participants about their experience. Share success stories with leadership. As you demonstrate results, skepticism will diminish.

Building an Advice-Giving Culture

While individual interventions are powerful, the most significant impact comes from systematically integrating advice-giving into your L&D ecosystem. This means moving beyond occasional activities to creating an organizational culture where peer advice is a standard part of how learning happens.

Make peer coaching a recognized competency, not just a nice-to-have. Include "quality of advice given to colleagues" as a dimension in performance reviews. Create digital platforms where employees can easily share implementation advice with colleagues (while respecting privacy). Celebrate and spotlight examples of employees who've successfully applied training by having them advise others.

Organizations that successfully build advice-giving cultures report higher engagement, better knowledge retention, and stronger learning transfer. They also see improved collaboration and team cohesion as employees develop stronger connections through the advice-giving process.

Integrating With Modern Learning Technologies

Technology can significantly amplify the impact of advice-giving interventions when thoughtfully applied. Learning management systems can include structured advice-giving activities as part of course completion requirements. Microlearning platforms can deliver periodic prompts for learners to give advice about applying specific concepts.

AI-powered tools can help scale personalized advice-giving by matching learners with similar challenges for peer coaching. Video platforms allow for asynchronous advice-giving where employees record short advice messages for future learners. Chatbots can facilitate advice-giving exercises by asking targeted questions that help learners articulate implementation strategies.

The key is to use technology to enable and scale human connection, not replace it. The power of advice-giving comes from the psychological commitment it creates. Technology should make advice-giving easier and more accessible, not turn it into another impersonal e-learning activity.

Taking Action: Your Implementation Roadmap

Ready to implement the saying-is-believing effect in your organization? Here's a practical roadmap to get started.

Week 1-2: Pilot and Learn
Select one upcoming training program as your pilot. Design a simple 10-minute advice-giving activity to include at the end. Brief the facilitator on the purpose and mechanics. Gather feedback from participants about their experience.

Week 3-4: Measure and Refine
Track whether pilot participants apply the training content more than previous cohorts. Collect specific examples of implementation. Use participant feedback to refine your approach. Document what worked and what didn't.

Month 2: Expand Strategically
Roll out advice-giving activities to 2-3 additional training programs. Train facilitators on implementation best practices. Create templates and facilitation guides to reduce preparation burden. Share early success stories with L&D team and leadership.

Month 3: Build Infrastructure
Establish peer coaching circles for high-priority training programs. Create digital spaces for asynchronous advice-sharing. Develop measurement systems to track transfer and impact. Identify champions who can help scale the approach.

Months 4-6: Create Culture
Integrate advice-giving as standard practice across your L&D portfolio. Recognize and reward employees who give high-quality advice to colleagues. Share impact data with leadership to build support. Explore advanced applications like wisdom networks and mentorship redesign.

Ongoing: Iterate and Innovate
Continuously gather feedback and refine approaches. Experiment with new technologies that can scale advice-giving. Share your learnings with the broader L&D community.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How does the saying-is-believing effect differ from traditional mentoring programs?

Traditional mentoring involves an experienced employee sharing wisdom with a less experienced one. The saying-is-believing effect focuses on the advisor's own behavior change, not the advisee's learning. When you give advice about challenges you're personally facing, you're more likely to follow that advice yourself—even if you're advising someone at a similar experience level.

Q: Can the advice-giving approach work for technical skills training?

Absolutely. The key is structuring advice-giving around implementation rather than technical knowledge. After technical training on a new software system, ask participants to advise colleagues about how to integrate the new system into their daily workflow, what common mistakes to avoid, and how to overcome resistance to changing established processes.

Q: How often should we incorporate advice-giving activities?

Quality matters more than frequency. One well-designed advice-giving activity at a critical moment (like immediately post-training) can have lasting impact. For ongoing reinforcement, monthly peer coaching sessions provide sufficient spacing for learning transfer without overwhelming employees.

Q: What if employees feel uncomfortable giving advice to others?

Frame advice-giving as "sharing what's worked for you" rather than positioning participants as experts. Use anonymous advice letters to reduce discomfort. Start with small groups of peers at similar levels before expanding to cross-level advice-giving.

Q: How do we ensure advice-giving activities don't just become another compliance checkbox?

Make advice-giving activities genuinely useful rather than performative. Use the insights generated to improve training programs. Share compelling advice examples (with permission) across the organization. Create opportunities for advisors to see the impact of their advice.

Q: What's the ideal group size for peer advice-giving sessions?

Research suggests 3-5 people is optimal. Groups large enough to provide diverse perspectives but small enough for everyone to participate actively. Larger groups risk having some members remain passive observers rather than active advice-givers.

Q: Should managers participate in advice-giving activities with their direct reports?

It depends on your organizational culture. In psychologically safe environments with strong manager-employee relationships, mixed-level advice-giving can work well. Many organizations find that peer-to-peer advice-giving (employees at similar levels) generates more honest insights and less filtered advice.

Q: Can we measure the ROI of implementing advice-giving interventions?

Yes. Compare training programs with and without advice-giving components using metrics like behavior change observation, performance improvements tied to training objectives, and time-to-proficiency. Track error rates or other performance indicators before and after implementation.

Conclusion: The Power of Letting Learners Lead

The biggest challenge in corporate learning isn't creating engaging content or selecting the right technology platform. It's closing the knowing-doing gap—ensuring that what employees learn actually changes how they work. The saying-is-believing effect offers a remarkably simple yet scientifically validated solution to this persistent problem.​

By shifting employees from passive recipients to active advisors, we tap into powerful psychological mechanisms—cognitive dissonance, self-persuasion, and personalized strategy generation—that dramatically improve learning transfer. The research is clear: people change their behavior more when they give advice than when they receive it.

For L&D professionals, this represents both a practical toolkit and a philosophical shift. We're not the sole experts who must have all the answers. Our role is to create conditions where employees can leverage their own experiences and insights to generate personally relevant implementation strategies. We're facilitators of self-persuasion, not broadcasters of best practices.

The beauty of this approach is its efficiency. A 10-minute advice-giving activity can produce measurable behavior change that hours of additional content delivery cannot match. In an era where time constraints are cited as the primary barrier to effective L&D, this efficiency is invaluable.​

Start small. Pick one training program. Add a brief advice-giving activity. Measure what happens. Share your results. Build momentum. Before long, you'll have created a culture where learning naturally transfers because employees have persuaded themselves—through the advice they give others—to follow through on what they've learned.

The future of effective corporate training isn't about better content or fancier technology. It's about understanding how human psychology actually works and designing learning experiences that work with our natural tendencies rather than against them. The saying-is-believing effect is one of our most powerful tools for making that future a reality.

What advice would you give a colleague about improving learning transfer in your organization? Your answer to that question might just change your own approach, and that's precisely the point.

-------------------------------

Sources & Further Reading

1. Katy Milkman - How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be
   https://www.katymilkman.com/book

2. Eskreis-Winkler, L., Milkman, K. L., Gromet, D. M., & Duckworth, A. L. (2019). A large-scale field experiment shows giving advice improves academic outcomes for the advisor. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(30), 14808-14810.
   https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1908779116

3. The Behavioral Scientist - Saying-is-Believing Effect (Glossary)
   https://www.thebehavioralscientist.com/glossary/saying-is-believing-effect

4. Gallup (2025) - Addressing the Barriers Blocking Employee Development
   https://www.gallup.com/workplace/692642/addressing-barriers-blocking-employee-development.aspx

5. LinkedIn Learning Report 2025
   https://learning.linkedin.com/content/dam/me/learning/en-us/images/lls-workplace-learning-report/2025/full-page/pdfs/LinkedIn-Workplace-Learning-Report-2025.pdf