We might also turn to organizational coaches who have expertise in the areas of communication and persuasion. They could provide assistance to political and community leaders who are seeking to make a convincing case for addressing challenges associated with the organizational underground. How might long-term perspectives regarding enduring unemployment and underemployment be successfully introduced to a citizenry that is addicted to the 24 hour news cycle and that (as a result) tends to embrace short-term perspectives? Can we also look to the expertise of organizational coaches who specialize in the transformation of mundane managers into visionary leaders? Can’t these coaches assist in the production of more compelling portraits of the organizational underground?
A third group of organizational coaches with organization development expertise might also be recruited. These are the practitioners who have extensive experience in working with large groups to arrive at consensus regarding new community visions, priorities and strategies—such as those who conduct “Future Search” conferences. Could not these men and women follow up a large group meeting about the organizational underground with coaching provided to those people who must translate the good ideas generated at this meeting into actionable steps and, ultimately, into new political priorities and policies? While there is a long history of successful large group facilitation, there is growing evidence suggesting that after-event (and even pre-event) coaching serves as a wonderful (perhaps even necessary) compliment to this facilitation.
Ethics
There is yet another perspective to take with regard to the organizational underground. This perspective concerns societal ethics and a vision of the just society. The strategies of alignment coaching (Lazar & Bergquist, 2007) can be effectively engaged on behalf of this perspective. An organizational coach with organization development expertise can help organizational leaders (corporate and government) identify the values associated with the reality of an expanding organizational underground. Each of the other organizational strategies we have just identified ultimately rests on a set of assumptions concerning what is valued in a society and for which members of a society are responsible. What responsibility does a corporate leader have for the role of their organization in casting out employees or taking advantage of employees who are willing to set aside their own career aspirations for a secure job (thus accept a life of underemployment)? What responsibly does a government leader have for policies that allow (even encourage) businesses to replace workers with machines and to build a disheartening dependence of many citizens on various forms of public assistance?
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