Check on a mediated agreement about one week after it is made, ask each party separately whether it is holding, and adjust it early if it is not, because without a follow-up agreements tend to dissolve. Later check-ins at about one month and three months suit serious disputes, and the intervals are practical judgements rather than established figures.
The final mediation step, in which the mediator and the community check whether an agreement is being kept and repair it before it fails.
Without Follow-Up, Agreements Dissolve
The parent article says follow-up is essential: without it, agreements dissolve. The usual failure is not open defiance but drift. A promise made in a calm session meets a hard week, one party slips, the other notices and says nothing, and a month later the original conflict has returned with an added grievance.
Intervals Differ Across the Corpus
| Source | Interval |
|---|---|
| This article’s parent | one week |
| Conflict Resolution (reconciliation) | one week, one month and three months |
| Mediation | a month after a complex agreement, sooner for simpler ones |
| Community Conflict Resolution | one week |
None of these has a source. They are compatible if read as: check early, then at wider intervals as the matter grows more serious. Choose and write the dates into the agreement itself, so a check-in is expected, not an accusation.
Method: Follow Up Without Policing
Step 1: Set the date at the end of the session. Put it in the written agreement.
Step 2: Ask each party separately first. “How is it going from your side?” People report problems privately that they will not raise in front of the other.
Step 3: Ask about the agreement, not the person. “Is the schedule working?” avoids defensiveness.
Step 4: If it is holding, say so. Acknowledgement matters; see Acknowledging Contributions.
Step 5: If it is slipping, ask what got in the way. Missed obligations often come from changes in the week’s load. Adjust the term, and record the change in the agreement.
Step 6: If it is being ignored, say so and escalate. If one party has stopped complying and will not discuss it, the follow-up has done its job by exposing that; move to the steps in When Mediation Fails and Agreement Enforcement.
Accountability Is Not Surveillance
Checking on an agreement should not turn into watching the parties. The mediator asks, listens and records; the community does not need daily reports. For the balance, see Accountability Without Micromanagement. After serious conflicts the relationship also needs repair beyond the agreement; see Post-Conflict Healing.
Common Mistakes
- Treating the follow-up as a trial. The goal is to keep the agreement alive.
- Following up only on the person you suspect. Ask both.
- Giving up after one miss. A single lapse is information, not failure.
- Gossip. Anyone reopening the matter in rumour is redirected to the grievance system.
What’s Next
- Learn next: Preventing Escalation — stopping repeats
- Combine with: Agreement Documentation — recording check-in dates