What is your favourite way of investing in staff?

Link to article. Unfortunately, Capital Ideas only took a few sentences from my response so here are some deeper thoughts:

You need to lay a solid foundation and have a solid framework before putting up the siding and building up the inside. With a strong base (trust), I believe that creating meaningful opportunities for your team provides the most benefit. There will always be a strong personal element when determining what these meaningful opportunities are. But it shouldn't be that hard when you have an open and trusted relationship with your team. Your team members shouldn't be intimidated or afraid of speaking their minds and being truthful to you. It's not always about you and your business but rather the passions and visions of your team members. It's a lot more powerful when you figure out how to make it work for everyone than trying to figure it out for one party.