How do democratic leaders significantly differ to laissez-faire leaders? Democratic leaders leave a lot of open space for their employees, while laissez-faire teams are similar, but with a structured hierarchy. Laissez-faire teams perceive and require the authority of the leader to a lesser extent than democratic teams. Laissez-faire leaders are trait leaders, while democratic leaders are behavioral. Democratic leaders allow everyone the freedom of speech, while such abilities are limited in other environments