Groups function best when members have a common purpose and the ability to work cooperatively.
The purpose is to measure the amount of support for the collaboration, identify those who want to participate as members, and explore preferred meeting dates, time and locations. This initial meeting generally is superficial and perhaps quite smooth, because the focus is on information rather than affect. Generally participants will carefully observe the leader's behavior and look at him or her for rules and guidelines. Also, it is a good idea for leaders to involve everyone in early meetings. It is advisable to have representatives from successful collaboration share their experience with newly formed interagency group.