A personal reflection by the inventor of the CT Dynamic
Don't Argue — success breeds success
Most businesses measure what they deliver. Very few measure what their people, customers and community actually expected in the first place. That gap is where profit quietly leaks away — and it can be measured.
By Tony Addiscott GAICD FAIM · 14 September 2026
In short
01
The rule
When an encounter meets or exceeds expectations, the experience is positive. When it falls short, it is negative. Nothing else explains loyalty as simply.
02
The measure
The CT Dynamic is a single percentage: how far an organisation is from delivering the experiences its stakeholders expect. Close the gap to 0% and the relationship is fulfilled.
03
The proof
A $30M business losing $500,000 a year turned into a $500,000 profit in three years — by listening to expectations and acting on them.
Every employee engagement and customer loyalty tool I could find measures experience. None of them first captures the expectation that experience is being judged against. That is the opportunity this paper is about.
Where this came from: the Hutton's turnaround
From 1979 to 1982 I ran the Hutton's business in Victoria and South Australia — a $30M operation losing around $500,000 a year, with disastrous industrial relations and a toxic culture. The board expected a $500,000 profit. They were asking for a $1M turnaround.
My predecessor managed industrial relations from his office chair, meeting the union delegate weekly rather than walking into a factory of some 400 people. He did not trust his senior managers — all of them excellent — and would not delegate.
I did the opposite. I spent a large part of my time managing by walking about, sharing ideas and news with anyone interested — and enduring some distinctly dubious humour along the way. I rewrote delegations so my senior managers could make the decisions their targets required.
Productivity, quality and sales went north quickly. For the first time in decades people showed pride in their work. Lost time became a thing of the past. The $500,000 loss of FY78/79 became a $500,000 profit in FY81/82.
Because we communicated, we could capture, respect and visibly fulfil the expectations of most of our people. Corporate success is team-based — never the work of one person alone.
Expectations — the parents of experience
Hutton's taught me that you cannot deliver a consistently acceptable experience to anyone — employee, customer or community — until you first understand what they expect. Since then I have learned to respect both dimensions of the psychological contract: the transactional (pay, terms, price, delivery) and, far more importantly, the relational (trust, respect, recognition, being kept informed).
When talent and customer retention matter as much as they do today, the relational dimension is the one that decides whether a business is sustainable. Which leads to a rule simple enough for any board to use.
When expectations are met or exceeded
The experience is positive
When expectations are not met
The experience is negative
What the CT Dynamic measures
Our byline is simple: we measure the gap between your vision — what your stakeholders expect — and your reality: what they actually experience. Rarely have I met a business leader who denies such a shortfall exists. Most cannot measure it, because standard operational data never captures it.
Vision
Expectation · 100%
The CT Dynamic
CTD %
Reality
Experience · 0 / 25 / 50 / 75 / 100%
Expectation (100%) minus experience as a percentage of that expectation = CTD%. The gap is closed when the difference reaches 0%.
Businesses close that gap using our stakeholder relationship navigation suite, Connexions. It offers three systems for three relationships.
Employees
Personal Deals
Every leader with direct reports agrees mutual expectations with each person, then reviews the experience against them. It can replace the annual performance appraisal entirely.
Customers
Your Deal
Every account manager agrees what the client expects of the relationship and what you expect in return, then measures fulfilment over time.
Community
Our Deal
A nominated senior person oversees expectations around compliance, inclusion and ESG — the relationship with the world outside the business.
The process is the same for each group. A first conversation in which both parties state their expectations of the relationship and commit to fulfilling the other's. Those expectations are recorded. Later conversations record the experience against each one. The difference is the number leadership manages.
What your stakeholders now expect
Expectations have moved. Gallup reports that millennial and Gen Z employees expect something diametrically different from baby boomers. COVID shifted Australian stakeholder attention from financial results alone to resilience, wellbeing, social responsibility, ethical leadership and transparent communication. AI has moved them again.
Employees now expect
- Job security and a fair transition
- Continuous learning and skill development
- AI used to support people, not replace judgement
- Transparency, trust and ethical use of their data
- Fairness, inclusion and genuine wellbeing
Customers now expect
- Proactive support rather than reactive service
- Speed, convenience and real-time visibility
- Personalised products and responsible use of AI
- Human access and clear accountability
- Demonstrable value and fair sharing of benefits
The modern psychological contract has shifted from a promise of stable employment to a promise of employability, adaptability, trust and partnership. Perhaps that is why Gallup still reports Australian workforce disengagement at up to 75% — the prime cause being leadership that does not fulfil what people expect of the employment relationship.
“What's in it for us?”
A fair question. Based on experience and research, deploying the CT Dynamic moves these result areas: employment costs, productivity, innovation capacity, revenue and market share growth, reputation and brand recognition.
Our research into productivity, employment costs and referral-driven growth informs a formula that estimates the Hidden Profit Potential sitting inside a business. For a hypothetical firm with $4,695,000 in annual sales, $2,007,131 in wages, 25 staff, 4 terminations and 1,465 customers billed, the estimate is $920,380.
Run the numbers for your own business
The estimator takes about two minutes and needs five figures you already know. No financial records required.
Open the estimatorWhat a test engagement looks like
1
A 30-minute conversation
No preparation needed. We talk about where you suspect the gaps are.
2
A customised proposal
A written proposal with your own Hidden Profit Potential estimate and a first-year plan.
3
A contained pilot
One group of employees or clients, measured properly, before anything wider is considered.
Copyright © 2026 Addiscott & Associates Pty Ltd t/as “The CT Dynamic”.
