Developing Garden to Table's Education Strategy with Nimbl Consulting
As Garden to Table continues to grow, we wanted to make sure every school and early learning centre receives the best possible support to establish and sustain a thriving Garden to Table programme.
To help us do this, we partnered with Nimbl Consulting to develop our new Education Strategy. Working alongside our Education Team, Nimbl guided a collaborative process that brought together staff from across the organisation to reflect on what was working well, identify opportunities for improvement, and create a shared vision for the future. Their facilitation helped us turn years of experience into a practical roadmap that the whole team could contribute to and believe in.
Garden to Table staff at a workshop lead by the Nimbl team
“At Nimbl, having worked alongside Garden to Table over the past couple of years, we knew the kaimahi already had a clear sense of what they wanted to achieve, even if it wasn’t fully defined. Where we could add the most value was in helping to capture and articulate those aspirations into a clear vision statement everyone could get behind.
From there, we worked with kaimahi ideas, creating a safe space to test and challenge their thinking, and helping them prioritise and align those ideas in a way that would move them toward that vision. We wanted Garden to Table to end up with a strategy that worked day to day — something to build their education plan and work programme off, and to use as a litmus test to check whether new ideas stayed aligned with their strategic priorities.
We helped develop the Education Strategy through a collaborative half-day workshop with the Education Team, followed by further rounds of testing, review and feedback. This culminated in handing the strategy over to the team to own, socialise and refine, with Nimbl providing support and advice where needed.”
The result is a clear strategy focused on three priorities: creating practical, easy-to-use learning resources and content, strengthening support for our members and our team of Education Facilitators, and making it simpler for schools and early learning centres to successfully establish, grow and sustain impactful Garden to Table programmes.
One of the greatest benefits of working with Nimbl was the way they balanced big-picture thinking with practical action. They challenged us to think differently while building on the strengths we already had, giving us confidence that our plans were both ambitious and achievable.
"Working with Nimbl gave us confidence that our thinking was robust while reminding us to build on the strengths we already had. We came away with clarity, shared ownership and a practical roadmap that we're already putting into action."
Already, we're seeing the impact of this mahi.
We're making it easier for new schools and early learning centres to get started with Garden to Table by creating clearer guidance, better organised resources and more tailored support during their first years in the programme. We're also reviewing and improving our education resources so they're easier to find, more relevant and better aligned with the needs of educators.
Perhaps most importantly, the process created genuine ownership across our team. When the completed strategy was shared, staff could clearly see their ideas reflected in the final plan, creating excitement and confidence as we moved from planning into action.
We're incredibly grateful to Nimbl Consulting for their partnership. Together, we've created more than a strategy—we've built a stronger foundation that will help more schools and centres deliver high-quality Garden to Table programmes, enabling more tamariki across Aotearoa New Zealand to grow, harvest, prepare and share fresh kai for years to come.