Two weeks ago, our leadership team had the opportunity to serve and impact the lives of student leaders from all across the country at the 7th Annual Circle of Change Leadership Conference.  Nearly 200 student leaders had the opportunity to connect with a diverse group of speakers, workshop presenters, student affairs professionals, and more than 70 professionals from various areas of expertise.

As you might imagine, the energy at the conference was incredible and the knowledge shared from all the guest speakers and panelists was life changing.  In addition to these incredible moments, our leadership team was inspired by the countless positive testimonials and transformational experiences manifested in the lives of the student leaders.

Although these moments were special and memorable for me, one of the greatest leadership lessons that I learned this year was the importance of building an effective team.  I have always understood the importance of building a team, surrounding yourself with the right people, and being an effective team player, but during this year’s conference, I really developed a deeper understanding about the importance of being an effective team builder.

This leadership principle became so much clearer to me because I have heard countless talks about possessing certain leadership skills sets from a variety of accomplished experts and speakers, but rarely have I witnessed these same experts talk in great detail about the importance being an effective team builder as a leader.

Based on these experiences with the Circle of Change Leadership Conference this past year, I strongly believe that effective leaders of the future must not only focus on personal leadership development, but they must learn how to build effective teams.  The most impactful leaders of the 21st Century will be those who are most effective at building effective teams within their sphere of influence.  Big visions require high performing teams and the Millennial generation is more team orientated than previous generations.  Under the right leadership, leaders in the 21st Century have the opportunity to make an even larger impact.

There are countless articles on the keys to building an effective team as a leader.  Here’s a list of ten questions that I believe every leader must consider if they are going to build an effective team:

• Do you have a collective vision and purpose that inspires others?
• Do you have defined roles and expectations for everyone who is part of your team?
• Do you have the right people doing the right things within your team?
• Have you created a culture of success for all your team members?
• Do you keep every member of your team accountable for their actions?
• Does everyone support one another on the team?
• Is there room for everyone on the team to grow?
• Do you have effective communication and trust among the team?
• Is your team more focused on the group success or their individual success?
• Have you created an organizational structure that enables your team to succeed?

There are so many other questions that should be considered as you begin the process of building a team.  I hope these ten questions help you to begin the process of becoming more effective at building a team!