Visual Research Report Design: The Strength Report 2025
Be Business Fit commissioned The Strength Report 2025 as a visual research report design project to answer a practical question facing leaders, HR teams and business owners across the UK: how does leadership coaching actually show up in organisations, who gets access to it and what stops it from being used well?
Rather than relying on opinion or anecdote, the project focused on a visual research report design that decision-makers could trust and use. The aim was to create a research-led report that combined credible data, a clear narrative and visual clarity without simplifying complex leadership behaviour.
Alchemy partnered with Be Business Fit to turn a large dataset into a structured, insight-led publication. The result is a designed PDF report that supports internal discussion, investment decisions and leadership development planning.
See the full report here.
Challenge
Leadership coaching is often treated as discretionary. Access varies by seniority, understanding is inconsistent and many organisations struggle to explain their value in practical terms.
Be Business Fit wanted to ground this conversation in evidence, using first-hand responses from people working inside UK organisations.
The challenge was to:
- Capture credible insight from a wide mix of leaders and professionals
- Analyse the data without flattening behavioural nuance
- Present findings in a way that senior decision-makers could read quickly and trust
This required a research report design approach that balanced depth with clarity and narrative with evidence.
Our Approach to Visual Research Report Design
This visual research report design focused on clarity, structure and decision-ready insight rather than interpretation or persuasion.
The work focused on:
- Defining the purpose of the report before any layout or design decisions
- Structuring content around real leadership questions, not abstract theory
- Maintaining a calm, editorial tone aligned with Be Business Fit’s values-led positioning
Every decision followed the same principle: the design should help readers understand the data, not interpret it for them.
Data Strategy
The report is built on a national survey of 170 leaders, managers and professionals, collected over a 69-day window. Respondents included business owners, senior leaders, middle managers and professional specialists, with coverage across Wales and England.
The data strategy included:
- Quantitative questions to identify patterns and trends
- Open-text responses to capture lived experience
- Transparent use of raw counts and percentages, with no weighting applied
- Clear explanation of caveats, including regional concentration and self-selection bias
- Independent peer review by four experienced coaches
This approach ensured the insight report was robust, balanced and defensible.
Infographic Design and Visual Storytelling with Data
The dataset was dense. The challenge was to make it readable without losing meaning.
We designed a series of infographic-led report pages that guide readers through the findings in a clear sequence.
Design decisions focused on:
- Single-focus visuals that answer one question at a time
- Pairing statistics with anonymised quotes to retain context
- Aligning visuals to Be Business Fit’s Strength Model so that data is connected directly to leadership behaviour
- Using comparison panels, such as the cost of unresolved issues, to support evidence-based decision-making
This approach reflects how we handle visual storytelling with data: clarity first, interpretation second.
Key Outcomes
The finished leadership report delivered several clear outcomes:
- Evidence of strong demand for coaching across all leadership levels
- Clear identification of barriers, including cost perception, stigma and difficulty measuring ROI
- Insight into how coaching supports behaviour change after training
- A direct connection between leadership behaviour and organisational outcomes
Rather than abstract conclusions, the report points decision-makers towards specific, testable actions.
Client Impact
The Strength Report 2025 now acts as a core reference point for Be Business Fit’s work with organisations.
It supports:
- Internal conversations about leadership development and coaching investment
- Evidence-based discussions with HR and senior leadership teams
- Workshops, briefings and follow-up insight sessions
- Ongoing content drawn from a single, well-structured research-led report
By combining research report design with clear visual structure, the report turns raw data into something leaders can actually use. The project shows how visual research report design can turn complex leadership data into a report that supports real organisational decisions.
Take a look at our portfolio for more examples of our work.