The Orientation Workshop that took me by Surprise on My First Day at Contus

While entering the premises of Contus with mixed emotions I never thought my first day would be a pleasant surprise to me. The day started off with preparations way too ahead of my regular routine timing. Wearing unusually clean shoes, well pressed formals and carrying mixed emotions, I entered Contus before the time I’m supposed to.

When I was kept waiting in the lobby, the presence of few more people intimated me that I’m not the only newbie here and that eased off by nerves a little bit. By the time I was in two minds to initiate a conversation with the guy next to me we were directed to a meeting room. The situation clearly hinted me of an orientation session but what followed next was a surprise to all of us.

A couple of people walking in and out of the room kept us guessing and before I could make an assumption of who is who, the HR head Mr Thiaghu Radha Krishnan, walked in with the company of a person who happened to be the organizer of the event.

The introduction session revealed our name and designation and that was time when I came to know that I’m the only designer in the group. A total of 22 participants were divided into 3 teams and from there on it was fun and learning fed in equal measures all the way till the end.

The activities were fun to get involved and thus drew voluntary participation. While a few activities demanded a one-time participation, a few selected events were repeated a couple or more times to help us imbibe the learning objective behind it.

As the events progressed the whole atmosphere and the people around became familiar which I feel as the best part of the event. For a new entrant who feels like an alien at a new workplace, usually takes time get along with peers but the workshop did the job for me on day one.

Coming to the learning objectives, the workshop imparted the significance of some of the much needed workplace values like team cooperation, responsibility, leadership, communication etc.

On the whole, day one at Contus was a blast. Thanks to the initiators, coordinators and the organizer who made the day special for us.

As a follow through of the orientation workshop we were handed over the duty of organizing a gala event at the workplace, which is said to be a regular practice of all the iCube workshops, involving randomly chosen participants from the Contus family. Here are some of the best moments of the event.

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