Centre Spotlight - Service Advisor Academy

From the Automotive Industry to the Chicago Marathon

This month's Centre Spotlight is all about Service Advisor Academy launched by Emma Lindley FIMI with the support of CoLaunch. Learn about Emma's journey as she went from joining the family business to launching her own academy, working with BEN, and even running the Chicago Marathon. 

The automotive industry has been a huge part of my life for almost ten years, but when I first joined my family business, Lindleys Autocentres, I certainly didn't expect it to lead to launching my own training academy or running the Chicago Marathon!

I started in accounts before moving into mobile tyres, branch management, customer experience and eventually training. Over those years, I became increasingly passionate about the role front of house teams play within independent garages.

Service advisors have such a huge influence on a business. They're the link between the customer and the workshop, and their conversations and decisions can impact everything from customer experience and retention to technician efficiency and profitability.

Yet when I looked around the industry, there was very little structured training specifically designed for them.

That ultimately became the reason behind creating the Service Advisor Academy.

Launching the Service Advisor Academy

With the support of coLaunch, I launched the Service Advisor Academy in 2026.

The idea was to create something specifically for people working on the front of house in independent garages, combining the practical experience I'd gained working in the industry with structured learning and ongoing development.

Becoming part of an IMI Centre was really important to us because I wanted the training to have recognised standards behind it and for service advisors to feel that their own professional development mattered.

One of the most rewarding things since launching has been seeing the confidence of candidates change.

Sometimes people arrive believing they're "just" a service advisor. Helping them understand how much influence they actually have on the customer journey and the performance of the workshop is probably my favourite part of what I do.

It's also made me think much more widely about supporting the people within our industry, not just professionally, but personally too.

Why BEN Became Important to Me

That became particularly relevant for me this year.

Someone very close to me went through an extremely difficult period in their life. Within a very short space of time, a lot changed for them personally and professionally, and I became genuinely concerned about their mental wellbeing.
I encouraged them to contact BEN.

I didn't personally use BEN's services, but seeing someone close to me access that support gave me a completely different appreciation for what the charity provides.

What I've also learnt through supporting BEN is just how broad that support actually is. BEN isn't only there for someone experiencing a mental health crisis. The charity supports people across the automotive industry with their mental and physical health and wellbeing, as well as practical support around issues such as money worries and financial hardship.

That range of support is so important because difficulties in our lives rarely happen in isolation. Financial pressure can affect our mental health, physical health can affect our ability to work, and problems at work or home can quickly begin to impact everything else.

BEN provides automotive people with somewhere to turn when they need support, whatever life might be throwing at them.
In automotive, we're very good at fixing problems. We're problem solvers by nature. But when it comes to ourselves, asking for help can sometimes be much harder.

Knowing there is an organisation specifically there to support the people who work within our industry, as well as their families, is incredibly important.

It also made me realise that if I could use my own platform within automotive to raise awareness of that support, I wanted to do it.

26.2 Miles for BEN

On 11 October, I'll be taking on the Chicago Marathon and running 26.2 miles for BEN.

I've run a marathon before, completing London in 2019, but this one feels very different.

This year has brought a huge amount of change for me personally and professionally. I've launched the Academy, stepped into a completely different chapter of my career and experienced some significant changes in my personal life too.

Running has given me somewhere to put all of that.

Some runs have felt amazing. Others have involved dragging myself out of bed at 6am and questioning why on earth I signed up for another marathon!

But somewhere along the way, the training became about more than Chicago.

It's become a reminder of what can happen when you keep showing up, particularly when things don't quite go to plan.

That's something I see in the Academy too. Confidence doesn't suddenly appear overnight. It comes from learning, getting things wrong, trying again and gradually realising you're capable of more than you thought.

Supporting the People Who Keep Automotive Moving

When I look at everything that's happened this year, there is actually a common thread running through it.

The Service Advisor Academy is about helping people within automotive develop professionally.

BEN is there to support those same people when life becomes difficult, whether that's with their mental wellbeing, physical health, finances or wider wellbeing.

And running the Chicago Marathon gives me an opportunity to raise both money and awareness for that support.

If sharing my marathon journey means somebody working within automotive becomes aware that BEN is there for them, or feels a little more comfortable asking for help when they need it, then the 26.2 miles will be worth it.

Although I may need reminding of that somewhere around mile 22!