As leadership is a social and subjective element of human behaviour, it is usually a reflection of the personality and behaviour patterns of each person. Whilst humans are infinitely unique, our behaviours do fall into ways that can be described, recognised and analysed. This is also true with our styles of leadership.

We distil leadership down into categories mainly to help us understand how to engage with them. We are not trying to simplify or constrain leadership methods, nor do we wish to enforce stereotypes or create behavioural norms or expectations. However, having some idea of how some leaders behave can give us a way to interpret and engage with them. It can also give us a starting point for how to emulate or strengthen our leadership traits.

Project leadership has some unique responsibilities upon its leaders, but it has more in common with other generic forms and applications of leadership than its differences. Studying these traditional leadership styles and ideas can give us insights into how these might apply in a project context.

Leadership within projects can have patterns or domains of behaviour. There are many project challenges, but they can be effectively categorised into domains that describe or define differences in how our leadership might apply. These domains often have competing interests and represent a balancing act that leadership must find a pathway through.