A crone is a witch on the path to achieving godhood by stealing the life force of others through a dark ritual. The second stage on this path is the baba yaga, a point where the crone loses all traces of humanity and transforms into a higher life form, a reflection of her inner self. This creature is powerful, with natural abilities unique to itself, and can use them to create her own unique spells. At this stage, it can form a cult of individuals with a unique mindset of ascending to gods, but devoted to her. It can no longer operate openly due to its change in appearence, so must use its more human witch emissaries to act on its behalf.These followers are taught the kind of magic created by the baba yaga and are given similiar abilities unique to her craft by it, and go out into the world to spread it's influence in various ways, through war or business, etc. They are usually small in number and operate independently, but may come together to serve a bigger purpose.
The system works as a pyramid scheme, in which a member is responsible for recruiting other members, strengthening the numbers of the organization. However, these witches are also capable of performing this dark ritual whenever they have the chance, and are likely to do so. Understanding this, the baba yaga wants to ensure that none of them get more power faster than her. Whenever a witch performs this ritual on an individual, the largest portion of the energy gained should be given to her. The spell can be done by themselves but this is much more difficult and dangerous. Therefore, this ritual is normally done in teams of up to five members, called a cell. The power gained from the ritual, say 25%, is shared among the cell, with the majority 75 % going to the baba yaga. The more cells have been established among her members, the more power the baba yaga gains through their efforts. Regardless of whether the ritual is done singly or with group effort, it ensures that she reaches her goals faster, and prevents any one individual from surpassing her in power.
This is a cutthroat operation where each witch is out to achieve power for themselves, and distrust and treachery is commonplace. It is similar to the Sith with the master apprentice concept, but without the rule of two to keep it in "check". Expecting these ruthless individuals to give up a major portion of power to the top boss willingly is unrealistic.
I need this system to benefit the maximum amount of people as possible while keeping the most senior members more powerful than their underlings. I also need the group to not implode as a whole due to betrayal. What procedures would ensure that this system continues with consistency despite all the backstabbing and treachery?