What happens when you have a team of brilliant employees that can and do get things done? You reward them. But the problem is the rewards that we think are brilliant such as money incentives are no longer working.

The trouble with money incentives is that its a short term burst of euphoria which let's face it only lasts for so long. The cash incentive has been around for some time now and this is evident with only a select few industries feeling the gratitude of a cash prize e.g. financial sector.

What keeps employees sticking around now is actually training, not in house training by the sales manager or marketing director but by a 3rd party outside of the company.

It's refreshing for the employee and it gives them a reason to stick around, there is now investment in the employees growth and knowledge.

Knowledge is power and we always seek more. Training is a great way to grow and expand that same knowledge and be able to really grow the team outside of their 'box'.

Training develops the skills needed to both go up the ladder and hit targets, a cash incentive will never really do that.

The argument could be that with a money incentive you can spend it on all the training you want - this is the wrong attitude to have, taking the time to understand and care about the employee means you'll either give them a choice or make a decision for them to send them away on a training course that's going to really give them a burst of passion.

By all means some people still prefer a cash incentive ahead of a training or development course but chances are they'll want to go up the ladder and that requires both knowledge and experience. Money can't by either.