Reviews Book 'Heel de organisatie'

If you are willing to let go of the old thinking and resolve the system blindness that comes with it, this is a highly recommended book.
Transformation begins as Marieke says by accepting that organizations can also have trauma and that a collective grieving process is needed to heal that. That doesn't mean crying together and singing kumbaya, but that we can process the repressed and hidden painful emotions together without recrimination. Grieving also involves forgiving and letting go.
Only leaders who want to go through the transformation process themselves can become transformational leaders. These are the leaders who are needed now.

Marieke succeeds in further paving the way for people who really want to get to work with organizations. Taking into account the societal challenges that exist and that some "leaders" turn a blind eye to. What is encouraging about Marieke's book is that she sought out leaders - whom she rightly calls healing leaders - who are already walking this path. As a result, impeding arguments like "too idealistic, naive, won't work anyway, ..." melt away like snow in the sun. And perhaps therein lies the greatest satisfaction for an author who dares to pioneer. Thanks for your courage, Marieke. Thanks for putting the spotlight on people who make a difference in the field and adding the necessary concepts and reflections.

Organizations can be thought of as 'beings' with needs and complex, sometimes sick behavior. It is rare to find a book that makes the connection between the resilience of an organization, its genesis and leadership. With the Resilience Model you learn to recognize and acknowledge traumas, shadows and entanglements in organizations in interaction with your own biography as a leader. Because in order to walk the path of healing, self-regulation, systems thinking and systemic skills form the bedrock. Thus, as a 'healer' you can begin to contribute to healthy, resilient organizations in which intuition and self-reflection are given space. Required reading for every change agent and entrepreneur because it effortlessly connects the conscious and unconscious aspects of the personal and the collective. 

"With this book, Marieke brings a holistic insight into organizations, nourished by her own experiences in health care in particular. Her deep connection to 'source' shows in her work and outlook. Her keen observations force you to ask yourself again the questions about what you see and what you have missed in looking at an organization. You can sense between the lines how her broad and deep self-development in other, adding fields such as shamanism, African and Egyptian antiquity and influences from the East enriches and influences her work. This book will show you layers that you may not have thought about before and thus offers a wonderful addition to the organizational systemic field of work."

I am deeply touched by Marieke’s talent to intuitively know and see through personal and organizational issues. Her experience with the systemic and energetic approach go well together with indigenous wisdom and sociological and changemanagement science. This ensures a fascinating book, in which Marieke insightfully shares how she diagnoses and offers solution approaches. She creates awareness through a powerful medical metaphor and by describing gifted leadership. The many -sometimes rather painful- examples from her practice help to make her views tangible. Highly recommended for anyone who dares to look in the mirror of their own shadow parts. 

Mariekes book exposes razor-sharp and recognizable causes that cause organizations to stagnate. With all its consequences, such as burn-outs, increasingly toxic management, diminished zest for life, et cetera. 'Healing Organizations' offers both an approach to bring organizations back to the essence -'to heal'- and a mirror for your own growth and vitality, the essence of change management. With this ambitious and comprehensive book, Marieke also guides us back to our own essence with two clear models, the 'Energyfield model' and the 'Resilience model'. Healing Organizations gave me more than I expected: besides a very welcome benchmark that connects body, mind and soul in an original way, she gave me hope and important new insights. 

The interaction between organizations and employees is a fascinating and intriguing subject. It takes time and patience to really understand the dance of repeating patterns. Precisely this insight is needed to recognize and break through the harmful patterns. With this book, the health of both the organization and the employee can be promoted.  

This book is the healing hand on the sore spot for people and organizations. A guide for organizations and leaders who have the courage to transform so that they can make a substantial contribution to the greater good. Do not expect quick fixes or superficial symptom relief, but a book full of pointers and insights born from experience and inner knowing. Marieke's words allow diagnosis and treatment to coincide. And it is there that the life energy can flow effortlessly and (self) healing -of both individual and organization- will occur spontaneously.  

I want to congratulate on your wonderful book! It is a portrait of your due diligence. It's very nice to see how you make a bridge from your organizationwork to the human body. You indicate well how important it is that healing leaders are willing and able to look at themselves, and that the success of a systemic intervention depends on it. I can imagine how powerful the systemic approach can be for organizational issues. It can be a stepping stone to necessary self-reflection. 

Narcissism in organizations stems from the fact that we are searching together and regularly lose our way. We can all relate to the problem to some degree, and we will have to work together to raise our children to experience an authentic interest from us. This book is about life's most important questions: what is love, what is wisdom and what is freedom? What is it to be "truly" human and can we find our way to our "true" selves? 

Dear Marieke,  during my wonderful vacation I finally started reading your book. I read it in two days. Thank you for all that beauty, wisdom and the insights you share with the world, with me, in this way.

This great book is about suffering and healing of people and (healthcare) organizations. About tucked away emotions and patterns that have emerged. About transformation and self-healing. Through which suffering, can be led by healing leaders with guts so that the greater whole is also healed.

I am very enthusiastic. That's why I have sold your book several times already! Especially your unique integrative vision of organizational development is what I sell. Your systemic and energetic work, in my opinion, sits perfectly at the front of the zeitgeist to work. What a world lies there for organizations to gain.

'Heel de organisatie' is a book that in a clear and very appealing way gives an overview of the different ways in which an organization can (dis)function. The parallels Marieke draws to the pathology of the human body are original, valuable and very recognizable. Besides naming factors that can make an organization sick, the book offers inspiration for the way back to a vital functioning organization. It is a must-read for external organizational consultants and company doctors, but also for internal leaders, managers, consultants and HR officers. In fact, for anyone with an interest in healthy organizational structures, power relations and interpersonal relationships within organizations. 

After years of experience, observations and analysis, your reflection is apt. The metaphor that organizations can get sick and recover is enlightening. Of course they can. How obvious? The first chapter on re-membering your true self is like a familiar painting that I'm sure I haven't seen like this before. The Energy field model and Resilience model I compared to my own experiences. Your models would have been a helpful frame of reference for me during my career. I'd understand the sick constellations and importantly I'd known what I could have done for improvement. I want to compliment you on the 'healing organization' concept, for the book is a roadmap for healing leadership.

With this book, Marieke provides -from progressive insight- a total overview that can not only be called revealing, but also gives insight into how we weakened our health care system. Hopefully, with these insights we can start forming a system that -does- work for health and vitality.. 

This book makes my heart and soul sing. It brings so much recognition of myself, wisdom and new insights. Very clear are the real-life cases and the correlation between organizational  diseases and energyflow. The self-healing capacity in organizations and people exists. I challenge you to read this book for a new perspective into the power of systemic work in many neglected companies that return to their essence by Marieke's interventions. Don't just read it, deploy it and take up the challenge to transform from within. It will not only improve companies and people, but also the collective.