Designing a Game Plan for Life After Pro Football

A National Football League (NFL) player’s life revolves around football. But when the game ends, “real life” begins—and the transition can be jarring. The NFL Players Association enlisted IDEO to help design a program and strategy to connect former players to everything from health and financial services to academic scholarships and career coaching. But to deliver the program—called The Trust—effectively, the NFLPA organization had to change. We asked Nolan Harrison, Sr. Director of Former Player Services, to describe the evolution.

How did working with IDEO help you think about the NFLPA organization in a new, more player-focused way?

In the beginning, guys didn’t know that we were actually here to help them. They didn’t know the Players Association was here to do more than just fight for them in collective bargaining. Now, that perception has completely changed, and they understand that we have services to take care of them post-football. I’m never satisfied, but man, I tell you as a former player, I couldn't hope for a better turnout.

The Trust has become this beacon, and now we’re able to help even more players who are in need—guys who didn’t even know these resources existed before. Other parts of the organization are being enhanced because of the light that The Trust is shining.

What surprised you most about our work together?

Well, one thing was the methodology that we learned in our work together and have since embraced at The Trust as a way to build new things. Now at our weekly staff meetings, the first thing I tell everybody is to write everything down. Put everything up. Everything matters. Everything has meaning and if it doesn’t have meaning now, it might have meaning later.

Once we got the buy-in from the group, it really surprised me how many people took to what we were doing. It brought out things in some of my partners that I had never seen before. It was really refreshing to see more ideas coming out of them—almost like another personality that had been repressed, or had never been given the opportunity to grow.

How has player engagement changed?

Before, things were just disjointed. Somebody had a program over here, somebody had a program over there. Once we created The Trust and got it up and running—meeting our guys where they are—we were delivering top-notch customer service through our program managers.

Now, when a player calls in to say, “I’d like to sign up for The Trust,” we start having a conversation about what they’re going through. It’s tailored to each individual, so it’s a lot more personal. They might find out we offer something they never thought they’d be a candidate for. Because we have that personal connection, they know we’re here for them. They know that people really care about them, because that’s how we built the program, and it’s also helped us get more guys involved. At the end of 2016, we had 3,877 former players enrolled in The Trust, taking advantage of resources like career coaching, financial planning services, and entrepreneurial and business courses.