Universities are allocated considerable public resources and are expected to fulfil societal mandates through teaching, research and service to local, national and international communities. University strategic plans are public documents that express how university leaders, students, academic and administrative staff are expected to aspire to meet these societal mandates. We suggest that strategic plans can be a point of departure for academic staff and leaders to reflect on their values and articulate their praxes. By praxis we mean the sense-making and purpose academic staff and leaders identify in their practices and how they choose to live out their values. We suggest an approach, using the principles of deliberative communication, intended to help academic staff and leaders articulate their praxis and find ways to live out their values in a liberating or transformative manner.