The Courage to Lead
Jessica Adams
Director, Jones County Department of Social Services
It’s been a big year for Jessica Adams.
When Adams learned about the LGFCU Fellows program from Jones County Assistant County Manager Brenda Reece, she was serving as program manager for her county’s Department of Social Services (DSS). Since then, she’s served as the department’s interim director, and she was hired permanently into that position in May 2020. In her role, she provides leadership for a DSS team serving one of North Carolina’s least-populous counties.
It’s been a whirlwind journey—one that Adams may not have gone on without the skills and coaching she gained through the Fellows program.
“You can talk about what a transformational leader is all day long,” Adams said. “But how do you progress in your actions to get to that place? That’s what the Fellows program does. It gives you tangible action.”
In summer 2019, the previous director of Jones County DSS announced his retirement. By August, Adams was elevated to the position of interim director, thanks in part to a 12-year career at various levels of the department.
While it might have seemed like an obvious choice to pursue the permanent director position, Adams grappled with the decision. By the time she attended Fellows in November and December 2019, she still hadn’t submitted an application—and wasn’t sure if she wanted to at all.
“Sometimes you don’t feel like you fit the traditional model of what the person in this seat should be,” Adams said. “We had a lot of things going on in the county that were causing conflict at that time. It made me question, ‘Is this this right time for me to lead?’”
Adams credits her change in perspective to two primary sources. The first: defining the type of leader she was at the time and defining the type of leader she wanted to become. The ability to see herself as a leader and communicate that with assurance would prove instrumental in her future interview process to become DSS director.
“Fellows gave me the tools that I needed to be able to say, this is my leadership philosophy, and this is my vision,” Adams said. “I have more acceptance of who I am as a leader, and I feel less hesitant to share that. I am going to be true to myself and to others, and that comes through in my leadership.”
The second source was executive coaching sessions with Jo Bell that Adams describes as “life-changing.” These sessions are a key part of the Fellows experience, providing accountability through two calls with nationally recognized executive leadership coaches. The calls allow Fellows to think through specific issues they are experiencing in the workplace or apply broader course concepts to their work. In Adams’s case, Bell’s coaching forced her to reflect deeply on her personal and professional aspirations and challenge her own assumptions about timing. These prompts led to more than a few self-described sleepless nights for Adams, and ultimately, a crystallizing moment.
Working in a small, rural community, the money that it requires to spend two weeks halfway across the state and to access a program of this caliber would not be financially possible for us. LGFCU makes that possible.
— JESSICA ADAMS
“I had this realization between our first and second call: it doesn’t really matter how much confidence you have in yourself,” Adams said. “As long as you have courage, you can do it anyway. I didn’t have to believe I was the best interim director ever—I had to have the courage to do it, even if it’s hard, even if it’s scary.”
Now, Adams is using her courage as she leads her department in uncertain and stressful times. Again and again, she finds herself returning to tools she gained from the LGFCU Fellows program as she works with her team and county.
“I’ve relied heavily on what I learned as I remind my folks about why we came into the work we do,” Adams said. “We’re here to serve the public. Even in a time of crisis—especially in a time of crisis—that’s when we need to dig deep and think about others in front of ourselves. We’re working through really tough issues, and those values help us elevate our leadership.”
For Adams, the experience simply would not have been possible without LGFCU’s support.
“Working in a small, rural community, the money that it requires to spend two weeks halfway across the state and to access a program of this caliber would not be financially possible for us,” Adams said. “LGFCU makes that possible. That’s invaluable to us.”