Features
Your silence is more than deafening …speak now or forever hold your peace
I have had many people, both friends and otherwise, ask, “Why do you seem as such a different person now in your older age than you were in your youth?”
Usually, I laugh at these questions or insinuations of all kinds because all my life, I have endeavoured to live a very simple life; I guess that as one gets close to the ‘three scores and ten’ stage, one’s general attitude to everything changes, as one begins to question all things, particularly those that one had taken for granted all those years, beginning with not amassing wealth at any cost, especially from questionable sources but more on how one intends to leave this country in a ‘far better state’ than that which was bequeathed to him or her.
As you age, you begin to question yourself over how fairly you have treated others because you know deep down in your hearts of heart, you are most worried about how you will be received back home in the hereafter and equally important, how those you leave behind will be treated according to the weight and depth of your ‘sins’ here on earth or particularly how your children and their children will be treated for your name sake.
That is when you come to full circle to the weight of how badly you treated others, when by just uttering a word, you could have changed their fortunes for the better, and for which they would have been eternally grateful.
You see, the JUDGEMENT or ‘SELF-INTROSPECTION’ begins here on earth before you leave. Sometimes, they manifest in the way and manner you leave:- long sicknesses, accidents of all kind, isolated lives of no-care as you antagonised all those who could have been there for you in your last years, months, weeks, days, hours and moments.
This world isn’t just about YOU amassing riches in any manner and mode, even when the cost of it is denying use of resources to develop facilities like schools, recreation/health centres and better roads for use by the general public.
Funny but it is at this advanced ages that you realise that you had missed the whole essence of your life here on earth: ‘THE PRINCIPLE OF SOMEBODY’S CHILD – The Myth of Fleming – Churchill’. This myth will always serve as the basis for HELPING OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN’.
You see, any child, in our old traditional or village setting ‘belonged’ to somebody and that’s why a whole
village in those days could contribute towards the education of their brightest pupil, irrespective of who the parents were, except that they are members of the same village who cannot afford to educate the child.
They all contribute, knowing that he or she will always come back to the community to support not only his or her parents but the entire community at large.
Even more importantly, the entire village believed in the principle that you never know who would be around at your worst or most critical need or moment: maybe not your own children but ‘SOMEBODY’S CHILD’.
That is why it is always important to do ‘good’ at all times, not pick and choose, because the person to save you at your worst need, wouldn’t be your own child.
If you just can’t help other people’s children, please refuse to be a conduit for denying them use of national resources through corruption, or their share thereof: denying them access to proper education through equal opportunities.
And if you think you can’t help in any way except concentrate on your own core or extended family, at least you could join the ‘unseen faces’ with voices to SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER, thereby ensuring that national resources are judiciously applied for the benefit of all, than just family and friends.
The OLD MAN ABOVE has a great sense of humour, and that is why He uses simple things of the world to confound the proud, self-conceited, hypocritical, arrogant and selfish people, who when they get to power forget, with no sense of appreciation, those people on whose backs and suffering they rode into office with the power of attorney to manage national or state resources for the general good other than themselves, family and friends.
If you are one of those ‘unseen faces’ with a voice to speak truth to power, but are sitting on the ‘fences of life’, pretending what is going on around the rest of the populace does not concern you, then it is a sad reflection of your own life; and you are better off reading the next passage of ‘FIRST THEY CAME’.
‘FIRST THEY CAME’ by Martin Niemöller
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.
MARTIN NIEMÖLLER (1892-1984), the writer, was a prominent Lutheran pastor in Germany, who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler, and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps. He is perhaps best remembered for his post-war words, “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out…”
The quotation expresses Niemöller’s belief that Germans had been complicit through their silence in the Nazi’s imprisonment, persecution, and murder of millions of people. He felt this to be especially true of the leaders of the Protestant churches.
In 1920, Martin decided to follow the path of his father and began seminary training at the University of Münster. Niemöller enthusiastically welcomed the Third Reich under Adolf Hitler. But a turning point in his political sympathies came with a January 1934 meeting of Adolf Hitler, Niemöller, and two prominent Protestant bishops to discuss state pressures on churches.
At the meeting it became clear that Niemöller’s phone had been tapped by the Gestapo (German Secret State Police). It was also clear that the Pastors Emergency League (PEL), which Niemöller had helped found, was under state surveillance. Following the meeting, Niemöller would come to see the Nazi state as a dictatorship, one which he would oppose till his death years later.
You see, if you become like MARTIN NIEMÖLLER and pretend to not see what has been going on for the past 29 years of the Fourth Republican dispensation of ‘WINNER-TAKES-ALL’ mentality, where once your party goes into opposition, you are denied any fair share of the national cake or opportunities, treated like you do not belong to this country: to the extent others with impunity will dare say to all that “We Are Taking Back Our Nation”, as if to intimate that the rest of us are foreigners.
People’s children have finished university, sometimes with great grades yet cannot be employed because they do not belong or they have been contracted to offer services to this
nation under one regime but the next regime has to pay the bill but refuses to on the premises that, you do not belong to them – is that the kind of an all-inclusive people we want to be governed by? That state resources are only available to ‘them’ not us because we do not belong?
Is that how far back we have retrogressed as a nation and as a people; and worse, those with voices to speak truth to power have faded back into their individual cozy circumstances sponsored by state, under all kind of disguises?
These same voices who were so vociferous during the reign of other governments in the past, the Church, becomes as mute as a popstar who loses his voice – Remember MARTIN NIEMÖLLER’s last stanza of ‘FIRST THEY CAME’ piece: Then they came for me, And there was no one left, To speak out for me.
Need I say more, when we have been more than quiet over the years since 1993 on CORRUPTION, UNFAIR ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES AND SERVICES TO COMMUNITIES, ABANDONED PROJECTS (as if developed by someone’s private resources not state), NEGLECT OF PLACES (because that’s not where we get our most votes from during elections or come from), DENIAL OF OPPORTUNITIES (because our government is out of office).
What about those of us, who do not belong to the two dominant political blocks, WHERE DO WE BELONG IN THE SCHEME OF THINGS?
This is my sequel to Martin Niemöller’s piece: ‘SECOND THEY CAME’
Second they came for the NPP Appointees
And I did not speak out
Because I was not NPP Appointee
Then they came for the NDC Appointees
And I did not speak out
Because I was not NDC Appointee
Then they came for the TUC Executives
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a TUC Executive
Then they came for the UTAG Executives
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a UTAG Executive
Then they came for some GJA Members
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a GJA Member
Then they came for some Radio Presenters
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Radio Presenter
Then they shot innocent bystanders during General Election
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a bystander
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak for me.
Need I say any more?
By Magnus Naabe Rex Danquah is a land economist & appraiser, events architect & planner, sport business consultant, social commentator and an author
Features
Fix It Fast or Lose Them Forever: The Ever-Rising Importance of Service Recovery in Competitive Industries
Yes, in literature and in practice, differences exist regarding customer service, service failures, and service recovery.
But have you ever considered the latter (service recovery) and its potential impact on service experience, brand building, and sustainable growth?
Well, in today’s fiercely competitive service economy, customer experience has become one of the most powerful determinants of business survival and long-term success.
Across industries, from aviation and banking to telecommunications, hospitality, healthcare, retail, and digital platforms, customers now expect fast, seamless, and reliable service delivery at every touchpoint.
Yet despite technological advancements and operational improvements, service failures remain inevitable.
Systems experience downtime, deliveries are delayed, reservations are misplaced, payments fail, customer inquiries go unanswered, employees mishandle interactions, and digital platforms experience disruptions.
In the midst of these, what increasingly separates successful organisations from struggling ones is not whether failures occur, but how quickly and effectively they recover when they do.
Service Recovery
Simply put, it is the process of fixing a service problem and restoring customer confidence after a failure has occurred.
Examples of service recoveries are; an airline offering compensation after a flight delay, a telecom company restoring interrupted service and providing bonus data, a restaurant replacing a wrongly prepared meal at no extra cost, a hotel upgrading a guest’s room after a booking problem, and finally a bank reversing an erroneous transaction and apologising promptly.
As competition intensifies and customer expectations continue to rise, service recovery is rapidly evolving from a routine customer service function into a critical strategic capability.
Businesses are discovering a hard truth of the modern marketplace: fix customer problems quickly, or risk losing them permanently.
Customers are More Powerful Now Than Ever
Customers now possess more power than at any other time in business history. Digital technology, social media, online reviews, and mobile connectivity have fundamentally changed customer behaviour.
Consumers now easily compare competitors instantly, publicly share negative experiences, switch providers with ease, and influence the purchasing decisions of thousands of others online.
This evolution has made customer loyalty increasingly fragile. A single poor experience can quickly damage years of brand-building effort.
In highly competitive sectors where products and pricing are often similar, customer experience has emerged as one of the few sustainable competitive advantages.
Modern customers no longer evaluate organisations solely by product quality or pricing. Increasingly, they judge businesses by their responsiveness, reliability, transparency, empathy, and effectiveness in resolving problems.
Why Service Recovery Matters More Than Ever
Failures are no longer viewed as isolated operational incidents, especially in competitive service sectors. They are moments that directly influence customer trust, brand perception, and future purchasing behaviour.
Research across service industries consistently demonstrates that customers are often willing to forgive mistakes when organisations respond quickly, communicate honestly, show empathy, and resolve issues effectively.
Conversely, poor recovery experiences frequently create stronger dissatisfaction than the original service failure itself.
For many businesses, the greatest reputational damage does not arise from operational errors, but from delayed responses, poor communication, lack of accountability, and unresolved customer frustrations.
This has elevated service recovery into a central component of customer relationship management and competitive strategy.
Speed, a Competitive Weapon
In the modern service economy, speed is no longer merely operational efficiency; it is a basic customer expectation.
Consumers increasingly expect: immediate responses, real-time updates, fast complaint resolution, and proactive communication. Delays are often interpreted as incompetence, indifference, or organisational inefficiency.
Consequently, organisations are redesigning their service recovery frameworks to prioritize rapid intervention and customer reassurance.
A cursory assessment revealed that some businesses now operate dedicated customer experience teams, 24/7 support systems, AI-powered service platforms, automated escalation systems, and real-time issue monitoring dashboards.
The ability to resolve customer problems quickly is now a major source of competitive differentiation.
Technology Is Transforming Recovery Strategies
Technology is fundamentally reshaping how organisations manage service recovery. Across industries, companies are leveraging artificial intelligence, customer analytics, chatbots, predictive monitoring systems, and integrated digital support platforms.
These tools allow organisations to identify service failures earlier, monitor customer dissatisfaction, automate responses, personalize engagement, and accelerate resolution timelines.
Some organisations now proactively contact customers before complaints are formally lodged, using analytics to identify service disruptions in real time.
This means that the future of service recovery is increasingly preventive rather than purely reactive.
Service Recovery as a Brand Strategy
Forward-looking organisations are now treating service recovery as part of brand management strategy rather than operational damage control.
The logic is straightforward because, acquiring new customers is expensive, dissatisfied customers influence others, and loyalty is increasingly experience-driven.
Businesses are therefore measuring customer satisfaction, response times, complaint resolution rates, customer retention, and net promoter scores more aggressively than before.
In many industries, service recovery performance is now discussed at executive and board levels because of its direct relationship with profitability, reputation, and long-term growth.
A call to action
As industries become more digital, interconnected and customer-driven, service recovery will likely become even more important.
Therefore, organisations that succeed in the future will likely be those that respond rapidly, communicate transparently, empower employees, leverage technology intelligently, treat customers fairly, and place their (customers’) trust at the centre of recovery strategies.
Remember, customers now have more choices, less patience, and greater influence than ever before, a clear message to forward-looking organisations that when service breaks down, recovery is everything. Fix it fast or risk losing customers forever.
Writer: Mohammed Ali
Conflict at work is more common than you might think. According to 2022 research by The Myers-Briggs Company, more than a third of the workforce reports dealing with conflict often, very often, or all the time in the workplace.
Addressing a dispute might feel tense or awkward, but resolving the conflict is typically well worth it in the long run. Whether you are trying to mediate conflict between colleagues or are directly involved. Last week we looked at three and this week is the remaining four steps you can take to manage workplace conflict.
4. Find common ground
The best way to handle workplace conflict is to start with what you can agree on. Find common ground between the people engaging in conflict. If you are directly involved in the conflict, slow down and focus on results instead of who’s right.
If you are the mediator for conflict resolution between coworkers, observe the discussion and help point out the common ground others may not see.
5. Collectively brainstorm solutions
When deciding how to handle workplace conflict, it can be tempting to problem-solve on your own. Sometimes, it feels easier to work independently rather than collaboratively. However, if you want to achieve a lasting resolution, you will need to motivate your team to get involved.
Brainstorm possible solutions together, and solicit input from everyone involved on the pros and cons of each option until you settle on a solution that feels comfortable to everyone. This will help all team members feel a sense of ownership that can help prevent future conflicts.
6. Create an action plan
Once you have created an open dialogue around workplace conflicts, it is time to resolve them. Just like any other work goal, this requires creating a concrete plan and following through.
Create an action plan and then act on it. It does not matter what the plan is, as long as you commit to it and resolve the conflict as a result.
7. Reflect on what you learned
All conflicts offer an opportunity to grow and become a better communicator. Identify what went well and what did not.
Work with your whole team to gather learnings from the conflict so you can avoid similar situations in the future.
