Laying the foundation

In my experience, the most successful teams invest time in laying the foundation to create a common framework for everyone. The building blocks are in the team infrastructure and team dynamics. You may get started by addressing the following: What is the purpose of the team; their function in relation to the business goals; the actual team goal? I recently posed these questions to a newly formed team of 17 people and got 17 different perspectives. Don't assume everyone is on the same page until you have the discussion.