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A Perfect Brainstorm

What cutting-edge science tells us about mastering the art of the brainstorm. Plus: Why do the best ideas always seem to happen in the shower?

At Digital River, ideas are everything. So every Friday morning, at 8 a.m. sharp, CEO Joel Ronning calls his "entrepreneurs council" to order. For the next hour or so, about 45 senior employees of the Eden Prairie, Minn., e-commerce company huddle in a conference room and hammer out one suggestion after another, in hopes of hitting upon something, anything, that will add revenue or cut costs. n Over the past three years, the council has hatched new ideas for everything from training new hires to smarter selling strategies--ideas that Ronning says have saved or made Digital River hundreds of thousands of dollars. As for inspiring his team to strive for such creative heights, Ronning credits a fun, informal corporate culture, which includes, among other things, free beer on Friday afternoons. A $2,500 quarterly award for the best idea doesn't hurt either.

Ronning is pleased with his results. But he could be doing even better. A slew of new scientific research suggests that there's a lot more to brainstorming than most entrepreneurs might imagine. As psychologists and researchers dig deeper into human behavior, cognitive processes, and how they relate to business, they're discovering exactly what it takes to stage idea-generating exercises that will push employees to their creative heights--as well as add to your bottom line.

The prime stalking ground for the perfect brainstorm can be found at the University of Texas at Arlington's Group Creativity Lab. That's where, for the past 14 years, psychologist Paul Paulus has delved into the science behind eurekas, staging more than 1,000 brainstorming sessions, varying the conditions, and measuring the results. Want to know whether it's better to write ideas down or say them out loud during a session? Paulus has tested it, and knows the answer. (Write it down.) How many breaks should the ideal brainstorm entail? (Plenty.) Do the best ideas come at the beginning of a brainstorm or at the end? (The end.)

An Army of One

Paulus's first piece of advice will strike most as surprising, if not heretical: The group is not God. Group brainstorming, used day in and day out by countless business owners, really doesn't work that well, according to Paulus. You're almost always better off directing your employees to brainstorm individually. In one recent study, conducted at a Texas energy company looking for ways to be more innovative, Paulus found that groups with four members generated about half as many ideas as four individuals brainstorming alone. Back in the lab, the results were the same, whether it was students investigating new uses for the paper clip or university staffers looking to cut costs.

The problem is that the simple act of being in a group creates a set of distractions that is difficult to overcome, explains Steven M. Smith, a cognitive psychologist who studies the creative process at Texas A&M in College Station. While in a group, individuals are forced to deal with subconscious urges to conform to what others are saying, anxieties about pleasing the boss, and their own social inhibitions. In the midst of all that, who can concentrate on having an idea?

What's more, research shows that groups often harbor illusions of their own effectiveness. Paulus will often interrupt a brainstorming session and ask the group to rate its effectiveness. In almost all cases, groups award themselves higher scores than do individuals--even though groups generate far fewer ideas. This means that groups are more likely than an individual to throw in the towel early. (Hey, that's a great idea. Let's stop. Where's that beer?)

On the other hand, there's no doubt that group brainstorming is an important exercise in team-building. The trick is to capture the efficiencies of an individual while making the most of the bonhomie and synergy of a group brainstorm. Two strategies have been found to yield the best results. The first is to alternate individual brainstorming with group sessions. Then there's what experts call "brainwriting." Rather than staging a face-to-face group, direct participants to write their ideas down on a piece of paper or electronically. One member of the group writes an idea, another reads it, adds feedback and his or her own ideas, and so on. This overcomes a lot of the problems of the group, says Paulus. Plus, it gives people more time to think about, and respond intelligently to, their colleagues' ideas. He's found that brainwriting exercises generate about 40% more ideas than individuals brainstorming alone.

Asking the Right Questions

Whether alone or in a group, the most important thing in brainstorming is how you define the problem. You need to be focused enough so that the task is not too daunting (How can we reinvent our industry?), but not so narrow that it discourages creativity (What color should we paint the office?). It sounds easy enough, but most business brainstormers screw this up, observes James D. Feldman, a Chicago-based consultant who works with small companies. "Most people do not identify their problem correctly," he says.

That leads to poor results, says Paulus. In studies where the problem was defined too narrowly (such as a study that asked, "What are the implications of the university's new computer policy?"), brainstormers had a hard time coming up with even 10 ideas. But open the question up ("How can we get the most out of our new computer system?") and brainstormers can generate 10 times as many ideas in the same amount of time. "If you can't go wide with your brain, then why bother with brainstorming?" asks Paulus.