When Stepping Away Becomes the Best Step Forward with Kayla Kernick

Kayla shares her personal journey with Spring Creek, her family’s business in Canada, where she initially entered organically through a retail opportunity, left when relationships became strained, and returned with clarity about her role and renewed family dynamics. Her story illustrates the common challenges successors face – being seen as more than their family role, managing expectations, and finding their own identity within the family legacy. 

Let’s talk about the questions you have about your company’s transition to a successor: www.transitionstrategists.com/discovery

Key Topics Covered: 

• The Organic Entry: How Kayla moved from her own retail business into the family company through a hotel development project 

• The Departure Decision: Why stepping away was necessary for both personal growth and family relationship preservation 

• Family vs. Business Roles: Navigating the challenge of being seen as a capable leader rather than “just the daughter” 

• Governance as Foundation: How starting with board structure and family governance created safety for the transition 

• Timeline Reality: Understanding that succession is a journey requiring years of knowledge transfer and development 

• Family-First Approach: Making family relationships the priority and keeping business discussions separate 

• The IMAT Experience: How understanding each family member’s wiring improved collaboration and appreciation 

• Legacy Perspective: Building something that lasts beyond one generation and serves the community 

Kayla emphasizes the importance of patience, appreciation, and putting yourself in the business owner’s shoes. She shares how structured conversations and clear governance helped transform family dynamics and created a path forward that works for everyone involved. 

Chapters in this episode:

00:00 Introduction to Kayla Kernick and Her Dual Perspective 
02:15 Kayla’s Journey Into the Family Business 
06:30 The Challenge of Being Seen Beyond Family Roles 
09:45 Why Stepping Away Was Necessary 
13:20 The Weight of Succession Becoming Real 
16:15 Making the Journey Fun and Meaningful 
19:30 The TTS Process: Starting with Governance 
23:45 Becoming a Transition Guide 
27:20 Patterns Among Other Successors 
30:15 The Power of Understanding Each Other’s Wiring 
33:45 What Legacy Means to the Next Generation 
35:20 Advice for Fellow Successors 

Connect with Kayla Kernick: 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaylakernick/

Connect with Elizabeth Ledoux and the Transition Strategists: 

Website: https://transitionstrategists.com/ 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetransitionstrategists 
Elizabeth on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethledoux/ 
Transition Strategists on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/transitionstrategists/ 
Transition Strategists on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@transitionstrategists 

Subscribe to “The Business Transition Roadmap with Elizabeth Ledoux” on your favorite podcast player: 

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3MxSYA2 
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3IhMMux 

Get Elizabeth Ledoux and Laura Chiesman’s latest book, “It’s A Journey: The MUST-HAVE Roadmap to Successful Succession Planning”: https://amzn.to/3oq2LQv 

When Stepping Away Becomes the Best Step Forward with Kayla Kernick Transcript

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Hello and welcome back to the Business Transition Road Map on our podcast today, I am so excited to introduce you to Kayla Kernick. She is coming to us from two different perspectives and two different lenses. One of them is as a guide with the transition strategists and another one, which I think is very interesting and we’ll spend quite a bit of time on this one is she is a family business successor with her dad, who is basically the founder and creator of a company called Spring Creek in Canada. So gosh, Kayla, welcome and thank you so much for being here today.

Kayla Kernick:
Yeah, thank you for having me. Pleasure to be here. It’s fun.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
So Kayla, maybe I think we ought to start by just kind of you briefly sharing a little bit about your story, maybe a little bit about the family business. We’ll dive into that side first and your role and kind of, yeah, what experience have you had in that journey of succession so far?

Kayla Kernick:
Right, because you’re in the middle of it. Yeah, we’re right in the thick of it. So part of my background is I had my own business in Kenmore for 10 years and there was an opportunity. How I got into the family business is my store was retail and my dad was building the Malcolm Hotel and had the retail space in the Malcolm Hotel and didn’t have a concept or idea. And he just designed it with a retail space and didn’t know what he was going to do in there. At that time, I was kind of looking for a change and wanted to grow. And so we started to discuss maybe me bringing my store into the Malcolm and that’s how I first kind of got into the company. Once I was there, the Malcolm took a little longer to be built and when I started doing the research and development for that business for in the Malcolm, I realized it was the concept I have wasn’t going to work in there. So I decided to separate it and sell my store and then create a whole different business model for him in the Malcolm. And while I was there, I kind of got pulled into a lot of different stuff and integrated into the company and just that entrepreneurial spirit. I just kept finding stuff and wanting to get my hands dirty and get in it and help make the business better. That’s how I got in the company. But during that time there’s a lot of ambiguity, kind of wondering what my role was. And that was getting really frustrating. So part of my journey was actually I was doing my MBA and just was wondering what my role looked like in the company. And I didn’t really see any more room for growth and kind of saw that dad maybe wanted to leave but wasn’t ready. And so with that I felt like my growth was stagnant. So actually left the business. And then during school that’s when I identified succession planning as a need for the business and how we found out that Elizabeth does it and is a long time family friend and ended up leading us all to you to work with. And that’s been a great part of our journey. Yeah, so then we’ve been working with you, Elizabeth, and I’m now back in the business and have more clarity. And the whole experience with the Transition strategist team has been incredible for just helping my relationship with my father. And because that was one of the big reasons why I stepped out too, was I felt like it was affecting my relationship. And at the end of the day, I wanted a dad more than a boss. So yeah, it’s been a really great experience.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
That’s exciting. Well, that’s a great story. You know, kind of getting into it in a way organically, which is how it happens for many successors, right? They come in and they kind of start in one place and then it sort of grows and which is part of the journey. It’s part of the great part of the journey. And so that’s pretty exciting when you if you look back so far, because again, you’re in the midst of it. What do you think in your time has been some of the more challenging things, either emotionally or relationally that you’ve had to face and work through to get to where you are today?

Kayla Kernick:
One of the hardest things with working with family and to work through, which it was more previously when I was at the company before I came back, was when your worth and kind of your role is also coming from your father and like family. And just also one of the other challenges is being seen as their daughter always and kind of treated differently. I felt like he was actually harder on me and even other staff noticed that. And just trying to get past that perspective of can he see me differently? And that was a big part of my journey was needing to leave to see me go off and do all these other stuff. And I was like, why am I doing this for other businesses? I should be doing this for ours. And it was important for him to see me in that different way too, other than just his daughter, right?

Elizabeth Ledoux:
What do you think? And I’m just curious, what do you think happened that allowed him to see you differently? And I guess the other question is, you know, how well is that going? Because I think of a spectrum like zero to 100, right. And I don’t know if it’s possible to get to fully seeing you separately and differently. But yeah, what do you think allowed him or triggered him to be able to start to do that? And then how far have you all gotten?

Kayla Kernick:
Yeah, I think the coaching and the work and the conversations he’s had with you and even that we’ve had as a family throughout the whole transition to just journey, the compasses kind of helped change his mindset. Also, a lot of it with him holding on to the business and almost seeing us as a threat and seeing him leaving as kind of not needed anymore, whereas it’s helped kind of change its mindset and let go more. Seeing it as, oh, you’re still going to need me. And it’s just, it’s been a slow process. We definitely aren’t fully there. There’s times where it regresses a bit. But the biggest clarity we got coming together as a family was how important at the end of the day the family is and how if we ever have any arguments about the business, they’re separate and just really making sure that our family dynamic is a priority. And we really put a lot of energy into building that first, whereas before we kind of were losing that and all we talked about was business. So having that clear, having that as one of our rules, that family’s first. And we even do a family trip every year. That’s just helped. It’s almost helped us like compartmentalize it a little better.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Yeah, that’s great. And you know, just thinking through my experience, that’s one of the big hurdles I think that families have to get through is separating the family from the family business activities just because typically in your case, it’s kind of true as well. You’ve got the same people, the same leadership group on both. You’ve got the same leadership group in each, even though the family is more inclusive because it typically includes everybody that wants to be included, including spouses and kids and all of those things where business sometimes is more. It has some inclusion, but it has some exclusion also. But that’s been a good journey, I think, for you to be able to compartmentalize and separate those two things.

Kayla Kernick:
Yeah, that’s been very good for our relationship.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Yeah. So how much time do you, if you had to give our listeners, our viewers, just a concept of how much time do you spend and allocate towards really focusing in on this family business on a regular basis and, and bringing in people that are external that don’t have jobs in the business as well. Right, ’cause that’s part of your governance. Talk a little bit about that.

Kayla Kernick:
So bringing in for our like family alliance and the board, like how much time we spend on that? Yeah, ’cause I do have two roles, like we have the board and as a board member and then me working in the company. So for the board, it was a lot more time. In the beginning, I think the retreats were our most productive time where we did a lot of the work, had the hard conversations, but then also went for dinner and were able to have fun together, too. I definitely found the most value in those and how much time we spend on it. Now we just do meetings every two months and then we all have some other roles or projects that we’re working on within the business. So it can be a couple hours a month, right.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
And you’re, I think it’s important too, your meetings, they’re not always in person.

Kayla Kernick:
Yeah, because my sister, since she doesn’t live here and being inclusive and she’s also the one not in the business, it’s really important for us to still keep her in the loop. We’ve also decided to bring in my mom. So having it virtual is really important just to make sure Amy can be involved too.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
That’s awesome.

Kayla Kernick:
Yeah.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
So as you were navigating, at what point in time did you feel kind of the weight that this was the succession was really going to take place, because you’re in the midst of it and you have quite a long timeline, which I think is terrific. But when did you start to feel the weight and go, oh, this is really going to happen for me? Because for me I saw it as a need for so long and being in the company for five years and dad was like, oh, you’re going to take over. I was just kidding. I’m never going to retire. It was a quite a long journey. I don’t think my brother and sister really experienced that because they weren’t even involved in the business at the time or living in Kamworth. So the way for me of it really happening was kind of when we all came together. For me, it was very quick. It was that first meeting where we’re all feeling like, yeah, we’re all here, we’re all on the same page now, we got here. So yeah, that’s where it really hit. And I think that was our first trip. Was it Canmore? We’ve been in Mexico for one, which is fun. That’s one of our values. It’s just making it fun too.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Yeah, well, and there’s no reason. I mean, I think that some people, both I think of transitioners and also successors, I think they kind of dread this journey. They’re sort of not looking forward to it. You know, their minds go into places and their hearts where they’re fearful or think that they’re going to be too many challenges or too many unknowns. So there’s more avoidance ’cause they, and yeah, that they’re dreading this, but it’s amazing to see how fun this can be for a family. So what have you found to be the most fun about this journey for you and your family?

Kayla Kernick:
I think it’s been really special getting to know my siblings and parents again as an adult and just at a different level because I feel like we kind of take each other for granted and just don’t have those hard conversations and the compass where we went through all of our visions. Like long term, it was very emotional. Like we all, I didn’t know. It was just nice hearing each other’s goals. And we all want to be there to support that. Like our dad wants to travel and it’s like, how can we help you? Like, we want you to be able to experience that. So yeah, just almost creating a deeper level of relationship as a family, I think it’s made us even stronger.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
That was a terrific time. So I’ll ask you, because you did go through the Transition Strategists process. So going through that, we actually started in a different place with you guys. We started because your dad was really concerned about that. So we started with some governance, which was kind of like, he was tired, I think, of being alone and making all the decisions and was trying to figure out how to bring you all in, but not hand the entire thing over, right? That’s the big fear is, gosh, all of a sudden they’re going to be making all the decisions. So we started with some governance and kind of building out that board and what your constitution was and how decisions were made at what levels. So we started there and we did your compass at the same time, so you knew your direction in that work.

Kayla Kernick:
Yeah.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Then after that, you decided that you wanted to build out your timeline because the kids, right, I’ll say the adult kids, children of the family, wanted, and which is typical, they want to know when. They want like, OK, when is this going to happen? Because now that we have a direction, let’s put time around it. Let’s figure some of this out. And then we helped you to try to get your board really working, which took a little bit of time, just practice, right? So as you went through that, I guess you’ve done quite a bit of work in this transition area before. So what do you think made this process for you maybe different or successful for your family?

Kayla Kernick:
I think why Dad needed to do the governance first was to understand what control he would still have. And I think there’s that fear of, yeah, not, of losing control. And we’re also just wanting to be relevant still and wanting to be needed. And that purpose, I think it worked for us because it was the answer. It went off the answers he needed, which he needed first to help him kind of feel comfortable releasing some of the control. It allowed him to see where he still had a place and certainty, and I think it really helped him want to start letting go and seeing a future for himself and for us. Without that, I don’t think he would have been ready.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Yeah.

Kayla Kernick:
And, and, and. Yeah.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
I think a lot of founders and, you know, especially the parent founders, have to know where they’re going to land and what that’s going to look like so they can be OK. You know, it’s just a little bit of that fear piece, I think, for them. And then, so we did governance, and you guys just have done a phenomenal job of building, building out that. And then your, your board got started. So you had, one of your family members was the first chair, and he ran the first meeting, and then you took, I think you took the next two? Yeah. But you switched off between your siblings, which was really fun to watch. Those meetings have gotten pretty good. How are your meetings now?

Kayla Kernick:
Yeah, they’ve gotten a lot better. And there, there were some learning moments in there. (laughs) Yeah. I remember, like, having no agenda or not sticking to a time or having too much fun between talking about business. But it’s, it’s pretty good now.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Yeah, good.

Kayla Kernick:
And it’s nice. My brother is a lawyer, and he takes it very seriously. So it’s good. (laughs)

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Keeps it moving forward, I’m sure!

Kayla Kernick:
Yeah, yeah. But, yeah, I think that just even like, I don’t know, the compass work and doing that process and even being like, “OK, what is it that we really want?” and asking the right questions was so important, especially on the family side. And just having that third party facilitation. Like, I don’t think it could have gone as well or as quickly if we didn’t have that.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Yeah. So as we start to wrap up, what would—if you were just giving advice to others, again, who might be in your shoes, either as a family member, as a successor, or a founder, what would you share with them just about how to approach this and go through it in a way that is positive instead of kind of dreading it or creating a mess?

Kayla Kernick:
I think my advice would be definitely have those conversations early and be honest. And even though sometimes you don’t want to rock the boat, it’s worth it in the end to have those conversations and just be true to yourself and what you want, what your values are. And then, like I said before, have that third party. Because there’s just things you wouldn’t, you wouldn’t say or it wouldn’t come out unless you have the right person asking it of you. And not codependently being like, “Oh, don’t want to upset my dad, don’t want to upset my sister.” You know, not being so cautious with your words. You can be more honest, but in a nice way. And then, yeah, just, just trust it and try to make it fun. Try to make those, like, if you can even go somewhere else to have those conversations and do it together and, and build your relationship first.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
That’s excellent advice! And I know that a lot of people take it so, so seriously, which it is, but, you know, remembering the relationship is just key. So, Kayla, thank you so much for joining me today and for being willing to share your story and share about your family and what’s worked and some of the challenges and how you all have approached it.

Kayla Kernick:
Thank you for having me!

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Absolutely! And, hopefully we’ll talk again at the next stage in your journey. And to our listeners, thank you for joining us on the Business Transition Road Map. Take care.

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The Business Transition Roadmap with Elizabeth Ledoux

How do communities thrive? When businesses experience healthy growth and transition. Join CEO of The Transition Strategists, Elizabeth Ledoux as she and her guests identify what makes a successful business transition roadmap. If you know you want to transition or exit your business “one day”, today is the right day to start planning. This show will give you the roadmap.

If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, you can check out other episodes here: Podcasts – The Transition Strategists