The culture was genuinely warm and collaborative long time ago. However, after the leadership change under new director, the environment shifted toward extremely tight oversight. Day-to-day work became heavily micromanaged, with most decisions requiring his personal approval. The atmosphere moved from empowering to fear-driven, where employees felt monitored rather than trusted, and there were instances of disrespectful behaviour, including raised voices in the workplace. There are also cases whereby he tells the team to avoid certain behaviours, yet he freely does the himself, apparently the rules only apply downward.
This created significant psychological pressure. Many felt that the leadership style focused more on control instead of development or guidance, and there were occasions where individuals were assigned tasks without adequate support, creating situations that set them up for failure. Over time, it became clear that success was judged less on performance and more on compliance and whether you conformed without offering your own perspective.
There were also situations where the leader would direct the team toward unproductive paths and later hold individuals accountable, expecting them to resolve the resulting issues independently as the leader do not know how to solve them. Overall, the environment no longer resembled a healthy, growth-oriented workplace, but rather an authoritarian, top-down culture driven by fear and absolute control.
