The Secret Ingredient

by Camilla Ribas | Learning Experience Designer

A few weeks ago a friend posed the following question: “If you could participate in any TV show competition, which would it be?” Without hesitation, I answered The Great British Bake Off. It was a no-brainer!

If you’re not familiar with the show, The Great British Bake Off, or The Great British Baking Show as it is known in the US, is a competition in which 12 amateur bakers compete against each other in a tent in the middle of an idyllic and ridiculously green field in the British countryside. (Picture a “Downton Abbey” kind of place.) The bakers face off in weekly Signature, Technical, and Showstopper challenges. Every week, someone receives the title of Star Baker while someone else leaves the tent. Every week, the bakers celebrate the winner and grieve for the person going home. It is lovely and I would join them in a heartbeat.

Am I a great baker? No. Do I own several cookbooks but always make the same easy recipes I learned from my mother? Yes. Would I leave the competition in the very first week? Absolutely yes. I would love to be part of it, nevertheless. 

Why do I love the show so much? There are so many things that make Bake Off one of the best TV shows out there: The diverse set of participants, the fun judges, the dad jokes, the comradery between the bakers, the “feel-good” vibe, and of course, the showstopper bakes. However, as I reflect on the true reason why I love the series— to the point I would want to overcome my shyness and appear on TV— I realize it has something to do with how much the participants grow with each challenge. 

If you watch any season of Bake Off you will witness the bakers getting gradually better and better. You will see them taking more risks, experimenting with new ingredients, and getting so confident that they will often give a hand to someone in trouble, even though they are competitors. 

As I think of the most memorable participants, I come to the conclusion that what sets these ever-evolving competitors apart is their confidence and their growth mindset. Growth mindset has become a hot topic in the L&D world over the years (mostly thanks to Carol Dweck’s TED Talk on the subject) and it is a popular topic of discussion in corporate settings as well. Perhaps one of the reasons why the corporate world likes the concept of a growth mindset so much is that it gives people a quick framework for understanding how they should approach or perceive challenges at work and in life. For example, a growth mindset perceives failure as an opportunity for learning, while a fixed mindset sees failure as a sign of one’s inadequacy or inability. 

While the concepts of a growth mindset and confidence are related, there is a misperception in the corporate world that confidence is simply a personality trait that cannot be changed. If you have it, you have it. If you don't, there is no point in trying to develop it. As a result, corporations are not interested in developing their employee's overall confidence. However, I’d like us to think of confidence as a social ability that is constructed over time and under the right circumstances. Furthermore, I’d argue that the ones most likely to have confidence are those who have been exposed to a variety of positive cultural, socio-economic, and educational advantages. These advantages are what allow individuals to form a sense of confidence in multiple aspects of their abilities, traits, knowledge, and identity. In that sense, confidence is linked to privilege, and If we keep thinking of confidence as a mere personality trait, we fail to see all the “baggage” that comes with it. 

I’m not saying that people who come from underprivileged backgrounds can’t be confident. What I am saying is that their confidence is often built on a single factor. And if your confidence is built on one or just a few components of your identity, then you are more likely to approach life with a limiting fixed mindset. 

I can give you an example. I’m visiting my hometown in Brazil after 6 years in the US, and because I’ve been away for a while, I sometimes feel foreign to the place and community where I once belonged.  This detachment helps me to notice things I never questioned before. The first and most prominent of them is that, in this community, most families in poverty raise their boys to believe that becoming a soccer player is their only ticket to a better life. They believe this so firmly that, regardless of the child’s physical abilities, interest, or fitness for the sport, parents will push their kids to become the next Neymar. That’s the norm our culture sets for these boys. 

So if a child shows any promising signs of soccer talent, then their whole sense of confidence gets built on this one specific aspect of their identity: “I am good at soccer.” Of course, everyone should be allowed to dream big, but these same boys who dream of playing for Real Madrid or Paris Saint-Germain should also be allowed and encouraged to build confidence as students, professionals, citizens, and so forth. Because when these teenage boys do not make the cut and there’s no backup plan, their confidence is utterly shattered. Opportunities are already very limited around here; imagine how much more limited a child’s chances are when their education—and everything else— was pushed to the back burner. Of course, this is just one example. We can find similar cases in other cultures and contexts in varying degrees and forms. 

As an L&D professional, I see a great opportunity to promote inclusiveness and equitability for those who may come from marginalized and underrepresented groups by focusing on building their confidence. There’s certainly a lot more involved when it comes to building an inclusive and equitable culture, but if we do in fact want to build processes and structures that promote diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging, then we should not forget that confidence is not the same for everyone. That is especially true for those who were not exposed to experiences that would allow them to build healthy levels of confidence in multiple aspects of their identities.

But why is confidence so important anyway? Well, if we expect everyone to speak up and show up as their whole authentic selves at work, then building confidence should be part of the equation. It takes confidence to identify possibilities in front of you. It takes confidence and courage to ask for the opportunities you think you deserve. It takes confidence to remain focused and resilient when things don’t go well. Confidence gives you better job interviews. Confidence helps you make connections and gain influence. Confidence allows you to take risks and try new things. Confidence goes hand in hand with a growth mindset, so confidence also leads to growth and development.

Now, back to the Bake Off. 

Season after season those who demonstrate confidence in their ability to show up and do the work tend to do better than those who keep second-guessing their abilities. If that is the case for a competition, why wouldn’t it be the same in the workplace?    

When a baker goes through the challenges and has small wins or receives constructive feedback, you can quite literally watch them become more and more confident with each episode. The judges are particularly good at identifying participants’ strengths and encouraging them to capitalize on what makes them special. It is so satisfying to see when a baker finds their rhythm and delivers one amazing performance after another. Oftentimes, the missing ingredient for those bakers who have been struggling is confidence, but once they finally find it, you will see what I described earlier:

You will see them taking more risks, experimenting with new ingredients, and giving a hand to someone in trouble even though they are competitors. 

I wonder what could be achieved If our learning and development programs focused on giving people of all backgrounds and abilities the opportunity to build confidence in multiple aspects of their identities.  Perhaps, like the competitors on Bake Off, these newly confident people might take more risks, incorporate more new “ingredients” into their work, and support colleagues who need a hand even in the most competitive environment. Now that could be a true showstopper.