Trenton Moss

By Trenton Moss

Team Sterka has just launched – we do training and coaching for cross-functional teams, mostly with brands doing digital at scale.

We don’t teach the mechanics of working in Agile… Instead we create high performing product teams by transforming people’s behaviour. Our People Skills as a Service™ programme gives people lifelong skills in leadership, emotional intelligence, resilience and a lot more.

Here’s a bit of background as to why we exist, and the problem we aim to solve (that no one else seems to be solving)…

The shift to a product-focus

The 2010s saw a huge shift in how digital products and services are being delivered. Rather than shipping projects across siloed departments, most brands have switched to a product-focus with lots of cross-functional teams working in Agile.

Each cross-functional team has a product manager, a designer, engineers, an Agile Coach and other stakeholders working together. Nowadays, all team members generally understand ways of working in an Agile environment (although knowing is, of course, different from doing!).

Practitioners – designers, engineers, product managers – are still expected to do their craft… but now need to use their people skills to collaboratively problem solve, resolve conflict and inspire others.

Practitioners need to collaboratively problem solve, resolve conflict and inspire others

Other major trends

There have been a few other major trends in recent years:

  • Workplace diversity has become a big thing so working with people from a range of backgrounds with different viewpoints is the new norm
  • Brands are increasingly looking for strong emotional intelligence (EQ) and problem-solving skills when recruiting
  • More and more, businesses are striving to create working environments that support positive mental health and emotional wellbeing

Given these trends – as well as the shift to working in cross-functional product teams – we believe the need to upskill team members in people skills is stronger than it’s ever been before.

Businesses don’t invest nearly enough in training their people in leadership, emotional intelligence and resilience, and this is having a material impact on team success. We hear time and time again from digital, product and design leaders that cross-functional team members are struggling with their new responsibilities.

After all, 85% of job success comes from well‐developed people skills (really?). Get all this right and you’ll have truly high performing teams. Leave it out, and you get people fighting each other, zoning out of work and ultimately leaving.

85% of job success comes from well‐developed people skills

People skills can be trained

We’ve created a really innovative People Skills as a Service™ programme, with bite-sized training, leadership coaching and ongoing interaction at its core. All together, this embeds new skills within teams to generate some great outcomes:

  • Increased quality and quantity of team output
  • Time freed up for senior team as team members require less support
  • Improvement in happiness and wellbeing across teams
  • Increased staff retention and team stability
  • Huge USP when trying to attract new talent
  • Improved scores in internal staff satisfaction/culture surveys

There are lots of companies that support businesses with the people, hard skills and processes required to work in Agile. No one seems to be supporting these businesses with developing team members’ people skills when working in a cross-functional product team. Until now.

Ultimately, work just gets better for everyone. You get high-performing product teams who play nicely with each other and with other stakeholders, and you increase your influence and impact in the business.

There’s a better way of you all working together. And it’s within your grasp.

Work just gets better for everyone and you increase your influence and impact in the business

How to post your Team Sterka certificate on LinkedIn

Congratulations on completing your Team Sterka programme! Bu...

The power of positive feedback

Improve the morale and engagement of your team by providing the correct balance of positive feedback and constructive criticism.

Shut up and listen: Your foundation to strong relationships

The easiest way to improve the quality of your relationships...

Get in touch

Get in touch with Trenton, our Head Coach

We’d love to hear from you! Let us know what you need and we’ll get right back to you.

People skills ++

Team Sterka will help you supercharge your people skills and emotional intelligence

Get our short, actionable top tip every week direct into your Inbox





    You can unsubscribe at any time

    Thanks for subscribing

    You’ll hear from us very soon.
    We’ve sent a confirmation email to

    Research‌ ‌carried‌ ‌out‌ ‌by‌ ‌Harvard‌ ‌University,‌ ‌the‌ ‌Carnegie‌ ‌Foundation‌ ‌and‌ Stanford‌ ‌Research‌ ‌Center‌ ‌found‌ ‌that‌ ‌85%‌ ‌of‌ ‌job‌ ‌success‌ ‌comes‌ ‌from‌ ‌having‌ well‐developed‌ ‌people‌ ‌skills.‌