ASE's biggest goal is to help improve the automotive industry—but that's only possible with input from the ones living within the field every day.

Jay Goninen, vice president of industry advancement at ASE, shares how ASE is addressing this with its new Advisors Program that aims to provide a platform for students and instructors to voice what's working for them and what could improve.

The People Behind the Tests

Currently, the ASE Advisors program is being led by Goninen as well as Jen Holland and Ben Dion from ASE. The idea was to create a program involving individuals who are active in the industry; are proud of their ASE certifications; can provide feedback; and become advocates for ASE.

Ultimately, the program wants to understand what ASE does well and what needs improvement, and to address misconceptions about ASE and its testing.

"A major misconception is ASE's writing the tests," says Goninen. "Well, it's industry folks writing the tests."

Though the program is technically already running, it's going through a sort of pilot phase, with a select group of individuals participating; however, Goninen points out they've been careful not to choose just supporters, as they want a diverse range of outlooks to work with.

"We're not trying to cherry-pick just the ones that are super advocates of ASE either, right? We want really good, honest feedback on things," explains Goninen. "That's the part where it's still in its infancy."

The program has already seen great success, though, with several participants having already agreed to join long-term. There's been plenty of valuable data gathered as well; the biggest takeaway for Goninen has been how many care about steering the industry in the right direction, whatever they believe it may be.

"I think the best thing that I've seen so far is just the amount of passion for the industry and wanting to see the industry get to a better place," says Goninen.

Conversations are especially enlightening when speaking with those who may not be as active with ASE anymore. It's an opportunity to ask questions about why that is, and what they would like to see more of in the field.

"It hasn't just been a complaining session," Goninen adds. "It's been, 'How do we work together to drive this industry forward?'"

Maximizing Outreach—and Creating Solutions

With its recent acquisition of WrenchWay, ASE now has the infrastructure for gathering data and translating it into comprehensive information about the industry. The data gathered from the Advisors Program will be especially useful for improving other organizational initiatives, such as ASE Connects.

There are currently a few different methods for gathering info. With participants being from all around the U.S., the most likely way to reach people will be through virtual meetings and surveys. Goninen has also used his Wrenchway's network to get even more people involved in the program.

The program has a more listening-first strategy in place, with the focus on just hearing what participants have to say and working from there.

"At the end of the day, once we can listen and document what we're hearing and put together an action plan to move forward, I think that's where real change happens," says Goninen.

As this new program continues to grow and develop, Goninen emphasizes it's meant to serve as the foundation for what could hopefully be a wave of improvements within the auto service field.

"We've always had the mindset that we're growing this thing fully, knowing it's never going to be a finished product. If we keep chipping away at it and we keep getting better, I think we're going to see more of the progress we're hoping to see as an industry," Goninen says. "I don't think there's a silver bullet that will fix everything overnight. But if we can keep chipping away at it and keep driving awareness, that will help us at ASE. That will help us at ASE Connects. That will help us with the shops and being able to communicate with them."