Creativity is often referred to as a numbers game, because the more ideas you try, the greater the probability of finding one that works. Several approaches to systematically collecting fresh ideas are listed next. Straightforward collection of ideas. A basic way of collecting fresh ideas is for employees to furnish them to a company database so that when somebody needs a fresh idea it can be accessed through a company search engine.

Establishing idea quotas. To facilitate having fresh ideas, the leader or manager can establish idea quotas, such as by asking staff members to bring one new idea to each physical or virtual meeting. A few good ideas will likely emerge. Making whiteboards regularly available for sketching ideas. The combination of a whiteboard and felt-tip pen has proven to be an effective method of sparking creative ideas. Granting tinkering time. A formal policy approach for collecting fresh ideas is to allocate an amount or percentage of time for employees to think and experiment.