Vantaggi
The organisation (Secretariat) headquartered in the UK is relatively small with a diverse and international team of committed and experienced people. The organisation’s mission to improve sustainability in tea producing regions is commendable.
Svantaggi
There is a toxic leadership and management culture that has demotivated staff and resulted in significant staff turnover. There is a lack of accountability of the leadership that has resulted in a fear-based culture where staff are unable to feel free to speak up, are disempowered and are unable to question leadership. Many decisions are made as executive decisions without any accountability resulting in a waste of resources and misalignment of priorities. Power plays, an authoritative hierarchical environment and favouritism are the core of the management culture. Staff are gossiped about by leadership with external networks, creating an extreme sense of insecurity to the team for potential risks to their professional reputations.