District 6 is proud to announce the recipient of our 2014 Fall Convention “Communication and Leadership Award” on November 1, 2014 as Brian Kaihoi, Rochester, MN.

We chose Brian for his service and leadership in effective communications with a variety of media as well as face-to-face, and leading others to engage in effective communication.

Brian Kaihoi

As a high school senior, Brian became convinced, along with a faculty member, that “single concept instruction” was a good idea for teaching geometry in particular. Creating a team of faculty, administration, students and local businesses, Brian designed and built a closed circuit TV system for the school, supporting faculty in its use, and implemented the new “Video Media” into the instructional process for many disciplines. After graduation from high school, the school district hired Brian to teach television production classes for students, and continue to mentor adults and students in this different way of communicating.

In college, Brian encountered adult Native American nursing students who were struggling academically and culturally at their college. In response to the situation, he created a corporation (Indian Center of Rochester, MN , Inc.) and assembled a team to address the problems. He authored a grant to the Federal Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and was funded to purchase a property where the students could live, cook and study in a more comfortable environment. The academic portion of the team combined to modify the delivery of their curriculum so that it was more culturally appropriate. All of the students in that program graduated and obtained their RN licenses.

Also in college, Brian became familiar with the needs of learning disabled students at the college. Working with some faculty and college administration, as well as interested community members, Brian was able to establish a “learning center” at the college, providing a wide range of supports for the students, awareness education for faculty and a partnership with other colleges that would provide the same supports as students transferred to other universities.

As a full time employee at Mayo Clinic, Brian has had a variety of assignments. One of his first assignments was the creation of a “Learning Resources Department” at Rochester Methodist Hospital. This department provided tangible support to teachers by way of creating audio visual materials, but also provided training on how to effectively use those materials in a variety of settings. Also, he designed and implemented a closed circuit TV system for patients and staff, and provided training and guidance on how to effectively use these tools to communicate with staff and hospitalized patients.

Another service of the Learning Resources Department was a series of “teach the teacher” classes and mentored practice. These programs were open to any staff member and included classes in adult learning principles, assessment, and coaching on effective speaking and presentation techniques.

Subsequent assignments at Mayo Clinic have crossed many department groups. Activities have included supervision, training, usability testing, cross function coordination. Along the way, Brian has been involved with the creation and coordination of Mayo Clinic’s public Web sites (i.e. www.mayo.edu, www.mayoclinic.org, www.mayoclinic.com) and the Mayo Clinic multi-state intranet. These efforts have all involved the definition of ideas, eliciting support from staff and management, and creating cross functional teams to accomplish the tasks. Currently, these Internet projects serve 70,000,000 visitors a month, and over 65,000 people daily on the intranet.

Over the years, Brian has been an invited presenter at dozens of organizations and professional meetings, regionally, nationally and internationally. His topics have included technical topics, organizational development topics and communication skill topics. Brian served as president of the Minnesota affiliate of the American Society for Healthcare Education and Training for 1989 and received the 1990 Distinguished Service Award from the American Society for Healthcare Education and Training (the professional education arm of the American Hospital Association).

Congratulations Brian.