You say collaboration matters to you, but you also prefer working alone. You're drawn to team projects, yet you get frustrated when you have to compromise on how things are done. Something doesn't add up, and you're wondering if collaboration is actually one of your core values or just something you think you should want.
Who This Is For (and Who It Is Not)
This is for you if you suspect collaboration might not be as central to your values as you've claimed. Maybe you've realized you work better in isolation, or you're tired of team environments that drain you. Maybe you value some kinds of collaboration (close partnership with one person) but not others (large group decision-making). You're not looking for permission to opt out of working with others. You're looking for honesty about where collaboration actually ranks in what matters to you.
This is not for people who love collaboration and want to do more of it. You probably don't need this because you're already living it. This is also not for people who are sure collaboration isn't their value and want validation to work solo forever. Values aren't fixed categories you belong to or exclude yourself from. The question isn't whether you collaborate, but how collaboration fits into what you care about most.
What makes this relevant is the gap between what you've told yourself and what you're noticing in practice. That friction is real data. It means something in your values structure has shifted, or you were never honest about it in the first place.
What You Will Discover
Once you map your actual values using Schwartz's framework, you'll see why collaboration sometimes feels essential and sometimes feels like an obligation. Schwartz's research across 80+ countries identified 10 universal value types arranged in a circle, where adjacent values support each other and opposite values create tension. Collaboration (called "universalism" in his model) sits next to values like conformity and benevolence, but directly opposite achievement and power. If achievement ranks higher than universalism for you, collaboration will feel like a constraint. If they're both high, you'll experience conflict unless you find contexts where collaboration amplifies your impact. You won't feel guilty about this. You'll understand it.
You'll also see which kinds of collaboration actually align with your values and which don't. Team creativity might energize you while committee work exhausts you. Mentoring others might matter to you while group consensus doesn't. The issue isn't collaboration in general. It's collaboration in the specific forms you're encountering. This clarity changes how you choose roles, projects, and teams. You stop accepting work that asks you to care about something you don't actually value. You stop blaming yourself for not being collaborative enough when the real problem is the context.
Common Reasons People Wait
The first hesitation is that you're worried you'll discover you're not collaborative at all, and that means something is wrong with you professionally. It doesn't. Organizations need people who work independently, think critically, and push back on consensus. If collaboration isn't your core value, you bring something else. The fear that low collaboration scores will disqualify you is the fear of being incompatible with workplaces that overvalue teamwork. That's a real incompatibility to know about. It's not a flaw.
The second hesitation is that you're already committed to a collaborative role or team, and if you discover you don't actually value collaboration, you'll feel trapped. You might. But you'll feel trapped whether you know it or not. Knowing it is the only thing that lets you make a real choice. You can either change your context, reframe your role to emphasize what you do value within it, or decide the trade-off is worth it. All three are valid. What you can't do is unsee the gap once you see it.
The third hesitation is that collaboration sounds good and you're not sure you trust your own assessment. Maybe your answer will be biased by a bad experience with one team. Maybe you're confusing collaboration with friendship. That's exactly what this exercise clarifies. When you rank collaboration against other values that matter to you, you're not reacting to one situation. You're seeing the real pattern of what you care about across your life. The assessment is honest in a way a feeling isn't.
Next Step
The My Values career values assessment surfaces your actual values in order, then shows you where your current role aligns and where it doesn't.
Can collaboration be a core value if I prefer working alone?
Yes, but it would be a specific kind of collaboration. You might deeply value one-on-one partnership, mentorship, or small-group creative work while avoiding large meetings or group decision-making. Collaboration in Schwartz's model is about valuing others' welfare and working toward common good, not about constant interaction. You can have that value and still do your best work in solitude.
What if I score low on collaboration but my job requires it?
It means there's a real mismatch between your role and your values, not that you're bad at your job. Some people stay in these roles because they value stability or financial security more. Some restructure their role to reduce collaborative demands. Some leave. The score doesn't make any of those choices wrong, but it does make them visible.
How is collaboration different from teamwork?
Teamwork is what you do. Collaboration is what you value about it. You can be an excellent team member without valuing collaboration as a core principle. You do it because you're reliable, skilled, or motivated by something else. The assessment helps you see the difference.
Can my collaboration value change over time?
Core values tend to be stable, but the expression of them shifts with context and life stage. Someone might have valued collaboration highly in their 30s in a startup, then find it less central in their 50s as a solo consultant. That's not a contradiction. It's a real change in what matters. The assessment shows where you are now, not where you'll always be.