Training is an investment managers make in their people. Many managers make the mistake of believing that, with the right training, anyone can become an expert at anything. Managers who build extraordinary teams know better. They know that investments in training make the biggest difference and yield the greatest returns when they are aimed at the right people, who have the right talents. Remember the GIFT Formula. Investment is a multiplier on the combination of talent and fit.

The returns on that investment can go straight to the bottom line. The same training delivered the same way will not create the same performance in people who start off with different levels of talent. Sales results from a Talent Plus partnership with a luxury cosmetics retailer bear out that claim.

In the previous example, everyone got the same investment of training, but the people with the right talent made the most of it—in a way that drove measurable business growth. As a manager, how can you match the right people with the right training to achieve the right results? Assessment instruments can help, but so can a good eye and patient observation. This story provides a clear illustration and a concrete strategy:

Years later, I was listening to a famous animal trainer who worked with lions and tigers. The interviewer asked how he trained those cats to perform the specific tricks. He replied, “I watch them when they're very young—watch them when they're just playing, doing whatever they want. Different cats like doing different things. If a particular cat likes to jump backward, I create a trick that requires him to jump backward. I build the tricks around what they naturally like to do.”

Alexander Lacey, the big cat trainer and presenter for Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus summarizes the idea simply and powerfully: “You have to see what they like to do, what they are best at, and then you work on that.”

The same principles apply to people.

There are plenty of situations in which a person has not yet tried something, so neither they nor anyone else knows whether they have an affinity for it. In that case, give it a try. But after a while, if progress is slow and labored, if they do not enjoy it, continuing is not good for them or for the organization. They know they are not succeeding. Leaving them there is not kind. Quit wasting time, effort, and money. Find something that is a better fit.