Podcast Summary

Podcast: Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast: Agile storytelling from the trenches
Episode: Building a Coaching Service Where Survey Scores Become Living Improvement | Scott Smith
Host: Vasco Duarte
Guest: Scott Smith (Agile Coach)
Date: December 3, 2025

Episode Overview

The main theme of this episode is the practical journey of initiating a new coaching service within an "AI domain" organization of around 30 people. Scott Smith discusses early-stage experiments and strategic thinking behind launching a coaching offering aimed at both individual team members and leaders, tying this initiative to the organization's annual pulse survey results—essentially, making “survey scores become living improvement.” The conversation revolves around defining success, feedback collection approaches, anticipated challenges, and means to foster engagement, especially among those unfamiliar with coaching.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Motivation: Moving Survey Results into Continuous Improvement

[02:10]

• Scott Smith shares that the coaching service idea stems from a desire “to increase our survey results ... which measure the health of our teams, our leadership and our people.”
• The coaching service is envisioned as an experiment, piloted initially with graduate-level hires, with the hope that demand will expand to more senior staff and leadership.

“We decided we’ll go ahead and give it a go with a bit of a pilot … and hopefully see more demand from more senior members of the domain and even leadership, which would be a great point to get to.”
Scott Smith [03:35]

2. Defining Success for the Coaching Service

[04:08]

• The primary success metric is qualitative feedback from participants and their stakeholders.
  • Direct feedback from coaching recipients (graduates, senior team members, leadership).
  • Observational feedback from people interacting with coached individuals (are they displaying improved traits?).
• Success is not just uptake but visible, positive change perceived by the broader team.

“Feedback from them, if it’s positive markers, then that would be a great metric ... Even other metrics might include feedback from someone else who has dealt with someone who I’ve coached … that would also be fantastic feedback.”
Scott Smith [04:31]

3. Feedback Collection: Initial and Ongoing Approaches

[05:52]

• Vasco probes the strategy for feedback, emphasizing two distinct stages:
  1. Before coaching starts: Gauge interest and readiness in the domain.
  2. Once in motion: Collect feedback during and after coaching via existing routines (one-on-ones, retro feedback, etc.).
• Scott initially considered seeking explicit “expressions of interest,” but shifted toward a “lighter touch,” launching the service to see what happens organically.
• The approach will favor quick, low-overhead experiments over detailed preparation.

“I think a lighter touch, just roll with it and put out the service without, you know, too much overheads and too much preparation and see what the uptake is rather than going looking for expressions of interest.”
Scott Smith [07:44]

4. Anticipated Barriers: Awareness and Busyness

[08:49 - 09:47]

• Two key challenges identified by Vasco:
  • Many workers have never experienced coaching and may not understand its benefits (“they might not know what the word means”).
  • Senior staff are time-poor, often not setting aside time for their own professional improvement.
• Scott’s approach:
  • Provide clear, concise information explaining what coaching is—and isn’t.
  • Share FAQs and prepare guidelines about what a session might involve.
  • Clarify the spectrum of support (coaching, mentoring, possibly training) available.

“Provide some relevant upfront information ... FAQs and provide them a guideline as to what a coaching conversation might look like, what they may or may not want to bring up.”
Scott Smith [09:47]

• Offering transparency about session formats and possible outcomes can help demystify coaching and attract initial interest.

5. Incremental Experimentation and Learning

[11:06]

• Both agree that treating these initial communication and awareness efforts as feedback experiments themselves is critical.
• The first feedback loop occurs even before formal coaching sessions, revealing team openness and understanding of coaching.

“That will be already a first feedback collection point ... you start to understand what people’s perspective is towards coaching and also how open they are to actually engaging with a process like that.”
Vasco Duarte [11:06]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Launching the Pilot:
  “We decided, we have decided we’ll go ahead and give it a go with a bit of a pilot ... and hopefully see more demand from more senior members of the domain and even leadership, which would be a great point to get to.”
  Scott Smith [03:35]

• On the Value of Feedback:
  “If that feedback is positive and they perhaps have been displaying some traits that they had come to me for coaching of, then that would also be fantastic feedback to see that, you know, the coaching services that are providing are of value and has been noticed not only with the people who are coming, but others who are interacting with those.”
  Scott Smith [04:31]

• On Experimenting Without Overhead:
  “A lighter touch, just roll with it and put out the service without too much overheads and too much preparation and see what the uptake is rather than going looking for expressions of interest.”
  Scott Smith [07:44]

• On Helping People Understand Coaching:
  “We might be moving more into this mentoring during the conversation as opposed to coaching based on how the conversation is going to and things that might come out of it. It could be training for example, if they so desire.”
  Scott Smith [10:04]

Timestamps of Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment/Event | |-----------|------------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:10 | Scott introduces the coaching service and its context. | | 04:08 | Discussion about how to define and measure “success.” | | 05:52 | Vasco asks about feedback strategy and staging. | | 07:44 | Scott describes experimenting with a “lighter touch” rollout. | | 08:49 | Challenges: coaching unfamiliarity, senior staff time constraints| | 09:47 | Scott’s information-sharing strategies for onboarding. | | 11:06 | Vasco highlights feedback even before coaching starts. |

Tone & Style

The conversation is candid, collaborative, and experiment-oriented—typical of practitioner-to-practitioner Agile exchanges. Both Scott and Vasco emphasize learning by doing, iteration, and the value of small, practical experiments.

Summary Takeaway

This episode offers a hands-on look at starting an internal coaching service meant to drive genuine, observable team improvement—making annual survey scores an active part of daily work. Key lessons include focusing feedback on real behavioral change, lowering the bar for initial engagement via lightweight experiments, and communicating clearly to demystify coaching for all levels of staff. The dialogue delivers actionable advice for any Agile coach or team lead seeking to transform culture and outcomes with small, empirical steps.