How Does an Adult and a Child Express Their Unique DISC Styles?

As I mentioned in last week’s blogpost, How Each DISC Style Best Relates Adult to Child, the graphs for our DISC Styles for my husband and me are exact opposites. Then we had three children who were each a unique combination of the two of us. Over the years, we learned lots of valuable lessons on how these different Style patterns acted and reacted.

Before I get into the actual best practices for interaction with each DISC Style, let’s review how adults exhibit each Style, then look at the ways a child tends to express their Style. Remember that only 4% of the population is one pure Style; most are a combination of two to three Styles.

In adults, the DISC Styles tend to be someone who:

• D-Style – takes charge, is decisive, gets things done, is authoritative
• I-Style – is enthusiastic, persuasive, positive, outgoing and fun-loving
• S-Style – is steady, dependable, consistent, cooperative and a team-player
• C-Style – is detail-oriented and conscientious, likes systems and procedures

When we look at how a child tends to express their DISC Style, we see someone who:

• D-Style – is strong-willed and independent, likes to do things their way, tends to be very active and a risk-taker, can be easily angered, speaks bluntly and takes charge
• I-Style – loves to have fun, can be emotional and dramatic, enjoys meeting and being with people, is full of enthusiasm for a new project or idea but may have trouble finishing it, usually loves to talk
• S-Style – likes to listen more than they talk, is cooperative and gets along well with others, likes things calm and peaceful, generally in a cheerful smiling mood
• C-Style – tends to ask a lot of questions especially about details, generally takes life at a slower pace, might appear more serious, enjoys their privacy

Again, special thanks to Charles F. Boyd for his insights into how children express their DISC Styles in his excellent book, Different Children Different Needs. We depended on this book when we were raising our children and it is still in print today. I highly recommend it!

Next week, we will start looking at the Adult/Child combinations that can bring challenges as well as blessings. My goal is that these insights will help you as you interact with young people – whether as a parent, friend, neighbor or professional.

QUESTION: As you look at the descriptions above, do you have a fairly good idea of what Styles the young people in your life might be? I’d love to hear your thoughts and observations. Please share in the comment section below.