23rd June 2016: the UK voted to leave the EU. Since then, businesses and employees have operated in an environment filled with uncertainty.

How can you maximise your internal communications to turn that uncertainty into an opportunity to build trust and reassure your employees?

As we get closer to Brexit Day without knowing exactly what the future holds, businesses of all shapes and sizes have been working tirelessly to plan for a variety of potential scenarios post-Brexit.

Fear of the unknown, fear of change, creates anxiety. Employees are worried about what’s round the corner for themselves and their colleagues, and they’re asking questions nobody yet has answers to.

What can you do to eliminate those feelings of fear and anxiety amongst your teams?

While we may not have all the answers for a few years, a strong first step is to focus on how to communicate your plans to deal with Brexit and what it may bring. Because what you do to communicate your Brexit strategy internally could turn fear into an opportunity to make your employees feel more connected and engaged, less anxious about the future.By communicating regularly, openly and honestly, you’ll put the minds of your employees at rest, you’ll show them that you’re all in this together, you’ll make them feel safe.

So where do you start? There are many ways of communicating with your employees, below are just a few examples:

1. How about a newsletter? Weekly or monthly, printed or digital, newsletters reach everybody and help foster dialogue across teams.
2. As consumers, employees are constantly exposed to highly visual experiences, so one way of attracting their attention and keep them engaged is to make animation or traditional video one of your key internal communications channels.
   
3. Infographics offer another highly effective and effective way of communicating complex messages quickly. With the human brain processing visual information 60,000 times faster than verbal messages, infographics not only encourage employees to engage, they also help them remember your message long after they were first exposed to it.
   
4. Technology – a user-friendly app will encourage employees to interact with each other and the business in real time. Use it to ask them questions and act on their answers. Encourage them to ask you questions – constant dialogue will make employees feel appreciated and that their opinions and contributions matter.
   
5. Have you considered the physical environment your employees work in? So much more than just four walls, using your office space as another communication channel is a powerful way to transmit your vision and instil an overall sense of unity across the business.