Working on building a real team requires that team members get to know more about each other and the faster, the better.
Enter thinking assessments like Emergenetics (Individual and Team) or Basadur (Individual and Team).
These and other tools are useful if you are Looking to improve communication, set aside assumptions about people, better use your and everyone else’s' strengths and come together with a common language around communication?
When you use a tool / assessment make sure it gives you an individual and team or group view of the results.
Both are important. They allow for individual development and team or group development.
The Team or group view is most important and most useful if individuals can get a sense for where they fit in the group results and and quickly determine where they are similar and where they are unique.
Using assessments to create a view like this, makes it easier for everyone to understand and adapt to everyone else on the team, improve together and do it more quickly than a year's worth of "water cooler" chats!