Transformational leadership is leadership that shifts power – and creates real community impact in the process.
Across 18 years, Tea Leaf Trust has blossomed from a simple idea into a youth-led organisation that brings hope and opportunity to thousands of people in the communities of Sri Lanka’s tea estates. In the last two years alone, the trust has also delivered more than 300,000 fuel-efficient cooking stoves to some of the countries most disadvantaged people as part of a climate credit scheme that aims to make the organisation financially sustainable.
But getting to this point has required one major shift: a letting go and a transference of authority to enable local leadership. The organisation’s founder stepped back from operations, and two former students now head up the two parallel organisations, Tea Leaf Trust and social enterprise the Cookstove Project. In the process, they have provided employment for hundreds of other former students, and almost all of them are under the age of 30.
This is a massive – and ongoing – transformation, supported by innovative fundraising as they successful navigate enormous challenges including the Covid-19 pandemic, an overthrown government, economic collapse, and the climate catastrophe.
In this frank and interactive masterclass, three different perspectives on one mission will help you look at your own organisation’s potential for transformation in a brand new way. You’ll learn how change on this scale isn’t linear – and definitely isn’t always easy. The process has been messy, with ups, downs, and backtracking along the way.
Established models of organisational growth and change often describe what should happen, rather than what actually holds an organisation together while change is in motion. This masterclass will introduce you to a simple, practical way of understanding change over time, using stages of growth, and key inflection points.
Set within the wider context of disruption across the development and fundraising sector, you’ll discover how values, trust, relationships, and funding shape our ability to navigate change – even on a transformational scale – without losing our way.
Learning outcomes
- Map your organisation’s stage of growth and identify key inflection points where change is needed
- Apply practical approaches to leadership transition and power-sharing, including managing founder influence, building internal leadership pathways, and maintaining accountability and performance
- Assess how funding and sustainability strategies interact with values and culture, and apply approaches that support long-term resilience without compromising organisational identity