Effectively engaging and aligning employees was credited for successfully carrying businesses through the recession at a recent round table discussion held in Manchester.

Comprising business leaders from the north west of England, the panel included Danny Schweiger of Character World, Lawrence Jones, managing director of UKFast and Louise Knight, an adviser to entrepreneurs.

In accordance with research completed by the Chartered Management Institute in 2009, encouraging employees to realise their full potential was regarded as an essential task to enhance innovation during the economic downturn.

Louise Knight said: ‘Every business is so heavily dependent on their staff but not all businesses recognise that. It is the businesses who recognise and value their staff who seem to be able to respond to changes in the marketplace.’

Lawrence Jones of UKFast, one of The Sunday Times Best Companies To Work For, added: ‘If you have the attitude that you’re always going to be right then you get a very one-dimensional business.

‘You have got to embrace everybody's ideas, staff and client's ideas alike. Our business has grown from those fantastic ideas.’

With companies with engaged employees reportedly outperforming on both revenue growth and profitability, in addition to uniting them on a common goal, the recession was also seen as a time to make some difficult decisions regarding existing staff members.

Danny Schweiger, joint managing director of Character World, said: ‘What I found interesting in the last 12 months was not to be scared of change when it comes to people. It is actually great to get some new ideas into a business.’