March 2019
Best Cities Global Alliance
5
partnership flourish – meaning that even the
more unconventional pairings shouldn’t be
ruled out when considering a partnership.
The importance
of partnerships
in impact work
Paul Vallee, MD of BestCities
Global Alliance, talks to AEM
aul Vallee is managing director
of the BestCities Global
Alliance. He is responsible
for the successful delivery of
the alliance’s strategic plan, performance
monitoring and overseeing its operations.
Paul is also executive consultant with
Gaining Edge, which in addition to
managing BestCities, provides consulting
exclusively to the convention and meetings
market. Here he speaks on the growing
trend for partnerships in associations
and how the industry can benefit from
collaboration.
Why are partnerships so important?
We seek out partners to be able to do
things we wouldn’t be able to on your
own, to expand our skillsets, resources, and
offerings. That’s how you create something
of value. The beauty of a partnership, to me,
is working together to complement one
another and to build something creative and
fresh that one may not have otherwise been
able to do. That’s the primary advantage
and the purpose of partnering. BestCities
as an alliance has built its foundations on
partnerships and works to help destinations
and associations identify partnerships that
would work for them.
How can an organisation find the right
partner for them?
Finding the right partner in association
work is no different to finding a personal
relationship or partner. You have to
consider your association’s needs and areas
of strength, using that as a basis to define
where the best fit lies. What is it that will
make you as an organisation prosper? The
best way to identify a suitable partner is
to find those who are complimentary to
what it is that you are doing. It’s not about
the similarities, it’s the differences that
organisations may have that can make the
What’s an example of an effective
partnership that you have observed?
One that I have overseen and have been
closest to would be between BestCities
and ICCA, because while we exist in the
same sphere, we are not exactly the same.
We work together with ICCA on various
programmes that give back to the industry,
such as the recognition programme and
Incredible Impacts. We’re a business and
a global alliance, whereas they are an
association that works in education and
holding conferences. They offer areas of
skills and expertise that we don’t have and
vice versa.
The foundation of any partnership is to
establish what it is you’re hoping to achieve,
what does success look like, and how you
plan to deliver it. That’s the basis of what
a successful partnership is; identifying
successful outcomes for all parties and
a path to that success. In the case of
BestCities and ICCA, our idea of success
was to recognise associations that are doing
outstanding work and legacy development
to support associations and collectively build
our reputation in the industry overall.
Where do you see the future of
collaboration and partnership with
associations going and BestCities’ role
within that?
When associations and destinations find
common ground, great things can happen.
For example, an association that specialises
in the eradication of a disease will find
common ground from destinations that
wants to improve the health of the citizens.
Or for instance, an association whose
purpose is to reduce child poverty is really
no different to a destination who wants to
see their young people survive and thrive.
What we’re moving towards is
associations taking advantage of the
benefits of collaboration and partnership in
refreshing new ways, using these to extend
offers and working towards a better future
that benefits all. That’s a partnership to me.