When building a new team, a number of factors have to be taken into account. These can be summarized in a visual called a ‘team canvas’ , as seen below.

Why was the team formed? Define the purpose of the team in the center. List some of the values you want this team to have. Next, define the people and the roles that will make up this team. Follow that with some common goals that the team comes up with.

Ask the team to write their strenghts and areas of improvements. The team will need some tools to get their job done, list those under ‘needs and expectations’. Set some boundaries with rules and activities. For personal growth figure out what each team members wants to accomplish and list those in ‘personal goals’ section.

Creating a team canvas will help create structure for the team. It will give others an overview of the team, and it will also help in keeping the team headed in the right direction.