I built my career in entrepreneurial companies, where leadership development consisted of the following, and usually in this order:

1. Trial and error
2. Trusted (and free) advice
3. When all else fails, find your own outside resources to get skills-specific training.

Sound vaguely familiar to you?

When I first began working as a leadership coach, I was amazed at the resources top companies put into growing their leaders. It's serious business, and it involves whole teams of talent developers. Now I design leadership development programs for companies, some entrepreneurial and others well-established, and I try to bring the best of both worlds together. With the right program and a supportive culture, leaders literally emerge before your eyes.

Since I am a columnist for WomenEntrepreneur.com, it should come as no surprise that a special interest of mine is developing women leaders. Corporations are giving this a lot of attention, too. It's partly a business necessity--companies need women in high-level jobs even as women increasingly are opting out of the traditional corporate track. Companies have also realized that women have specific leadership needs and do best with development programs that cater to them.

Women entrepreneurs know the dilemma all too well--it may be the reason you decided to become your own boss. But now that we're in charge, what are we doing to lead the way for other women in our organizations? Most entrepreneurs I know believe it's important, but it comes down to a resource issue--time and money.

Can you create Fortune 500-caliber development on a startup budget? You bet.

To get some perspective, I spoke with Kathryn Heath, Ph.D., managing partner of Flynn Heath Holt, a leadership development firm with a focus on developing women leaders. Among other clients, Heath works with Deloitte's Women's Initiative, which is widely seen as a model in the industry. Heath also has extensive experience in talent development for companies such as Wachovia Corp.

Heath has designed some of the top programs for women. For our readers she shares highly effective practices that any company can employ. Her advice:

1. Give it to women straight. When Heath goes in to provide a leadership development program, she first delivers personalized feedback to the participants. The all-too-common response is: "I've never heard that." The corporate culture in most companies doesn't provide a consistent process for feedback. And women pay the price. According to Heath, feedback is akin to a GPS system that allows women leaders to modify their behavior. Heath has conducted surveys at organizations including law firms and banks, where male executives frequently say they dislike providing feedback to women because women expect lengthy explanations and can react emotionally. The men often elected to forgo the feedback.
   
   Feedback is free and establishes a trust relationship that pays big dividends in performance. Further, leadership agility, or the ability to adapt and change, is one of the hallmarks of successful leaders, Heath says. So to get it, women need to be continuously kept aware of what they are doing well and what they need to fix. (For more about leadership agility, read the article by Michael M. Lombardo and Robert W. Eichinger.)
    
2. Establish peer mentor groups. According to Heath, studies show that peer feedback is more effective than any other kind. Entrepreneurs should take heed and establish peer groups for women to get and receive feedback from one another. Women can meet once a month over lunch in small groups of five or six to discuss their career objectives and challenges, and hold each other accountable.
   
   Companies often develop mentor programs that involve an assigned supervisor/subordinate relationship, and these are far less effective than peer groups. As an extra bonus, peer groups can foster real friendships in the organization, frequently cited as one of the top reasons for employee retention.
    
3. Start a book club around leadership and management. Similar to peer mentor groups discussed above, Heath suggests that women entrepreneurs establish a leadership book club at their companies. When everyone studies and discusses the same leadership concepts, the ideas become part of the fabric of the company, and the learning becomes relevant to the workplace. This creates a common language and stretches the team's thinking. It's also fun, and it models a commitment to continual learning.
    
4. Use free talent for corporate training. You don't have to hire an expensive firm to train your people--you can take advantage of internal experts and business associates. We used to bring in business partners and reporters to educate our employees on market conditions. For example, Heath suggests using key sales talent to train the whole company on everyday business development skills. Figure out what you want your team to learn, and look into your network and your company to see if you have a source to teach it. People are often delighted to be asked.
    
5. Assign women to cross-functional project teams. "Stretch" assignments are a great way for women to grow skills and influence in the organization. If you expand a salesperson's exposure to finance, for example, you provide key skills to help the individual see the full picture--which she'll need to move to the top of the organization. Cross-functional project teams also create relationships that can only benefit women's networks and influence in the company. Heath recommends Eighty-Eight Assignments for Development in Place for specific ideas to try.
    
6. Take advantage of inexpensive assessment tools. It's ideal to have a 360-degree assessment administered by a professional who can help you interpret it, but doing an assessment at all is better than doing none. Go online and research your options for an assessment that works for your company, and have your high-potential women assessed on a regular basis (Include yourself). I conduct and deliver 360-degree feedback regularly, and it always increases self-awareness and focus. We all need it. And the internet has spawned a whole cottage industry of electronic feedback instruments that are cheap, simple and time-efficient.

Make a commitment. As the leaders of our companies, we model behavior every day. All eyes are on us. We have an opportunity to get our women thinking bigger and to demonstrate a commitment to their potential as future leaders, both in our companies today and after they move on. Considering that small businesses employ half of the private sector and account for 80 percent of net new jobs annually, perhaps our efforts have an even greater impact on the future of women leaders than those of large corporations.

My challenge to you: Find one thing from this list and do it. Then pass this article on so someone else can do the same. This small effort for you can make a big impact for women.