It’s hard to believe that in just a few weeks, we’ll be closing out another year. This year has provided us with many triumphs, such as the rollout of vaccinations, which provided us with a slight memory of what life look liked pre-pandemic. However, even with the glimpse of our previous life before the pandemic, the reality is that we still have far to go. And while the future is unknown to all of us, we can use this moment right now to reflect on what we’ve accomplished in 2021.

One of the biggest lessons we’ve learned this year (and continue to learn) is that we must learn to prioritize ourselves through active self-care. As we worked through the last two years, many of us found that we were working from a place of emptiness. Frustrations from civil unrest to the continuous mutation of the Coronavirus have left many of us working from depleted resources. It’s important for people in positions of leadership to support their staff by demonstrating empathy and encouraging time away from work. The message leaders share should be clear – in order for you to be effective at your job, we need you to prioritize you.

We’ve also learned, whether we like it or not, we can successfully work, collaborate, and produce results in a remote environment. Work has not ceased in the last two years. In fact, in some cases, the demands of work have increased. Most employees responded to the demands with grace, humility, and resilience. The way we work today is different from how we worked previously, and your employees, for the most part, responded with a courageous heart and got the job done!

And finally, more importantly than those two lessons, we learned, many organizations across the globe are making diversity, equity, and inclusion a priority in their business. Operating with a spirit of intentionality, organizations are beginning the process of assessing the internal dynamics of their organization. As it relates to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, organizations are beginning to ask the hard pressings questions of where we are now and where we want to be in the future. The answers to these questions will be the catalyst for impactful future organizational changes.

There has been an abundance of amazing work executed in 2021, but it’s just the beginning. There is much more work that organizations need to get done to make meaningful change. As we usher in the new year, let the reflections of 2021 be our guide for the possibilities of 2022.