How should I interpret the data of my teams that are quite new to Scrum? They fall quite close to the AWI? On a scale 0-5, I would expect the starting teams to achieve lower values.

That does not necessarily surprise us, because the World Index is not a desired goal in itself, but rather an accurate reflection of how the world works right now – with all its flaws. If your teams are performing similar to the World Index, that would tell us that this is a pretty average team and that you’re seeing a lot of the same issues as the index overall is indicating.

If there are certain things that stand out, we’d recommend you take note of that and make sure this is part of your discussion with the team. You can also look at the raw average numbers and check out the level of distribution in the data: “Does my team tend to agree with the answers?” or “Are there large amounts of disconnects within the same dataset?” If so, we have an excellent opportunity to dig in and find out more. A great invitation for a conversation.

Ultimately, we recommend focusing on 1-2 main things that we would take concrete action to improve. Depending on the scope of the change, we would check in with the team again some 6 months from now and compare results today from what they were then. If teams compare favorably, than we can tell that the team perceives it is improving. A good sign, but something we should also validate with observations, objective data and team conversations. If they are indicating things are not improving, this helps us know where we need to help.
In either case, the team can see that we are taking their feedback seriously and that we are committed to making organizational change based on their feedback. And that – in the end – is the essence of building a continuous improvement culture.