This year has taught us a lot about the workplace:

1. We are resilient: The new workplace word for 2020 is pivot.

Employers have adjusted to telework on the fly, changed schedules to account for home-schooling, canceled planned conferences and meetings, learned a new norm of the virtual everything, created a COVID-safe workplace — all while getting work done, servicing customers and in large part keeping employees employed.

If your business survived 2020 — it can survive just about anything.

2. We can reimagine work: Prior to the pandemic, changes to how, when and where we worked seemed impossible. Now, the unimaginable seems doable; 2020 taught us that innovation and creativity can make good things happen perhaps more efficiently than before.

The past year caused us to reimagine everything about the workplace — where we work, how we work, when we work, who does the work. We asked who is our customer, why are we doing things this way, how can we do more for our employees and customers and service our mission while working more efficiently.

Answers to those questions will come in 2021.

3. Companies are more than employers to workers: The runner-up word of the year for the workplace is empathy.

Whether it’s kids screaming in the background or simply asking employees how they are doing — we found ways to listen and care and offer support in ways we couldn’t imagine. Let’s hope empathy is one thing that survives in 2020.

4. Diversity and inclusion is imperative to every organization: For years, businesses and organizations have talked diversity and have dipped their toes into the water of the diversity, equity and inclusion imperative.

In 2020, organizations finally took notice that things must change — and not in baby steps, but with a full dive into the deep end. We learned that sometimes the effort is clunky and difficult and disruptive — and that’s OK.

Remember, workplaces are resilient and can be reimagined. Just because Sally who retired did a great job as a white non-disabled female doesn’t mean the job can’t be done by an Indian male who is deaf.

5. Employers need an industry network: Many companies have been a bit shell-shocked at how quickly the business model had to adjust and even shut down due to government orders.

While everyone understood the pandemic’s uncertainty, few were prepared to be heard en masse. The pandemic has left some industries feeling deprived and singled-out, and 2020 has shown organizations, whether religious, nonprofit, government or private sector, that they need to build a network.

Those associations that have focused primarily on networking might need to readjust their mission to be a voice and advocate for their industries.

6. Plan now for uncertainty: Whether finance, legal or insurance, businesses needed to scramble to determine what they had and what they needed.

In 2021, business owners need to build a network of trusted advisers, including lawyers, accountants, insurance brokers, safety managers and bankers, to build a strong foundation for basic business necessities.

For example, few businesses understood what was really in their insurance policies and whether mandated shutdowns would be compensated as insurance claims.

Those employers who enjoyed a positive relationship with a banker were able to get federal funds much quicker than those relying on strangers at big banks.

Things can turn quickly and be out of your control. Prepare not just your organization, but your industry, for what might be needed in the future.

Organizations also need to plan for COVID-19-related litigation and be sure that insurance policies address these types of situations.

Tough times are a way of showing us how great the good times can be. Employers and workers will likely feel a greater sense of appreciation for having work and customers in 2021 as we all happily bid adios to 2020.