Pictured above: Ellen Morley

Whilst businesses are sitting out the storm of recession, rather than standing still they should be grasping the opportunity to take time out and indulge in the two basic ingredients of innovation - thinking and planning. And a good way to start is to positively engage their people, by for example holding a brain storming session.

This was the advice dished out today by a leading Shropshire business consultant who regularly facilitates away-days and planning sessions to generate new ideas for the business and keep people engaged.

"Just "keeping your head down and your nose clean" in a recession means you don't see opportunities when they come along," says Ellen Morley, Principal of The Business Company which is based just outside Shrewsbury. "Companies need to be busying themselves in slack times and creating an internal 'Ideas Factory' is a good way to do that. Ideas are invaluable and without them companies stagnate and cannot grow."

"It is however vital that ideas are captured in a structured way so that they can be fully explored and then translated into realistic actions. By getting staff involved and keeping them informed through focussed activities such as away-days, businesses can ensure that the ideas keep coming forward and that each person who submits them has given some thought as to how they might work and where they fit with the business goals."

Deb Price is Practice Manager at The Dental Spa on Oxon Business Park. She says adopting "away-days" was one of the best decisions her company made last year. 

"Taking staff off-site enables us to concentrate for a whole day at a time on best practice training," she explains. "Through brainstorming sessions we have generated some excellent new ideas that have made a real contribution to taking the business forward."

"The sessions were structured in such a way that we all learned from each other as well as from the facilitator and it reinforced the importance of team effort. Everyone, from the Clinical Director down to the receptionists, has brought away something useful and the benefits of having away-days have far out-weighed the cost. It is something we plan to continue during 2010."