Organisations invest heavily in gathering evidence and comparatively little in getting it used. Surveys are fielded, datasets are cleaned, models are run — and then the findings arrive as a dense report, weeks after the meeting where they would have mattered. The work was rigorous. The value was lost in the last mile.

In our view, that last mile — translation and communication — is not a finishing touch. It is where research earns its return.

The gap is not a lack of evidence

Most decision-makers are not short of information. They are short of time, and of evidence framed around the choice in front of them. When research answers the question the researcher found most interesting rather than the one the board needs to settle, it is filed rather than used.

Design for the decision, not the dataset

Closing the gap starts before fieldwork begins. Ask what decision the research will inform, who will make it and when. Then work backwards: shape hypotheses around that decision, choose methods that can genuinely test them, and plan the outputs before the data arrives.

Evidence that arrives after the decision has been made is history, not insight.

Translation is a skill, not a summary

Translation is more than shortening a report. It means turning findings into implications — what changes, for whom, and what should happen next — while staying honest about uncertainty. Done well, it makes evidence easier to act on without making it any less rigorous.

What good translation looks like

  • The headline first — lead with the answer, then show the evidence behind it.
  • Implications, not just findings — spell out what the result means for this organisation.
  • Honest confidence — say how sure we are, and what would change our view.
  • The right format for the room — a board paper, a briefing or a single chart, not one report for everyone.

Key takeaways

  • The value of research is won or lost in the last mile.
  • Design research around the decision it needs to inform.
  • Translation turns findings into implications without diluting rigour.
  • Timing matters: evidence must arrive while the decision is still open.

Closing the gap

When evidence is shaped for the decision, timed for the moment and told in a way people can act on, the gap between research and action narrows. That is the thinking behind our approach — rigorous analysis, compelling narrative and considered design — and it is how research becomes a strategy a board can interrogate and back.