The ability to manage change effectively is a critical success factor in any business context. Within organizations, HR takes the lead role in making transformation a reality through its people initiatives. The success or failure of organizational transformation falls on HR's shoulders, and it hinges in part on people management practices that help employees embrace change and regard it as a positive thing. This year more than any in recent memory demonstrated how challenges can come out of the blue and why change management is such an essential skill. The pandemic compelled HR professionals worldwide to scrap existing plans and take heroic measures to keep people safe and support operations in a disrupted business environment. Related: Embracing change: How the HR role is evolving, and how to adapt HR teams that successfully navigated these challenges learned something new about their organizations, workforces and themselves: the capacity for resilience. That talent will be needed in the year to come, which is likely to be as transformative as the year now drawing to a close. There's light at the end of the pandemic tunnel — recent vaccine trial success has everyone hoping for a return to something like normal next year. But make no mistake — the workplace has changed for good. HR is playing a significant role in managing change and driving necessary innovation during the crisis, and we've seen what we're capable of when we all work together. There's no stopping that momentum. In the slideshow above, we explore seven predictions about what may lie ahead for HR. Of these predictions, the one with the broadest implications is a greater focus on the employee experience, which includes elements like real-time feedback, more support for diversity and inclusion initiatives, and an emphasis on engagement. HR teams that get the employee experience right in 2021 will be prepared to meet the post-pandemic future, whatever it brings. Lisa Dodman is chief people officer at Unit4.

• Read more:

• The new approach required for talent management post COVID-19
• How COVID-19 is changing the role of the chief human resources officer
• 7 principles for rethinking human capital