diff --git a/cmd/common/helpers.go b/cmd/common/helpers.go
index a7ad807128..32adddefdd 100644
--- a/cmd/common/helpers.go
+++ b/cmd/common/helpers.go
@@ -79,6 +79,19 @@ func GetLeaderElectionConfig(restcfg *rest.Config) configv1.LeaderElection {
 	return defaultLeaderElection
 }
 
+// GetDefaultLeaderElectionConfig returns HA default leader election timings regardless of
+// cluster topology. Use this for components that run a single replica and have no lease
+// contention, where the inflated SNO timings only add unnecessary recovery latency.
+func GetDefaultLeaderElectionConfig() configv1.LeaderElection {
+	defaultLeaderElection := leaderelection.LeaderElectionDefaulting(
+		configv1.LeaderElection{},
+		"", "",
+	)
+	klog.Infof("Using HA default leader election timings (LeaseDuration=%s, RetryPeriod=%s)",
+		defaultLeaderElection.LeaseDuration.Duration, defaultLeaderElection.RetryPeriod.Duration)
+	return defaultLeaderElection
+}
+
 // SignalHandler catches SIGINT/SIGTERM signals and makes sure the passed context gets cancelled when those signals happen. This allows us to use a
 // context to shut down our operations cleanly when we are signalled to shutdown.
 func SignalHandler(runCancel context.CancelFunc) {
diff --git a/cmd/machine-config-controller/start.go b/cmd/machine-config-controller/start.go
index f9a022d230..71a547e63c 100644
--- a/cmd/machine-config-controller/start.go
+++ b/cmd/machine-config-controller/start.go
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ func runStartCmd(_ *cobra.Command, _ []string) {
 		<-ctx.Done()
 	}
 
-	leaderElectionCfg := common.GetLeaderElectionConfig(cb.GetBuilderConfig())
+	leaderElectionCfg := common.GetDefaultLeaderElectionConfig()
 
 	leaderelection.RunOrDie(runContext, leaderelection.LeaderElectionConfig{
 		Lock:            common.CreateResourceLock(cb, startOpts.resourceLockNamespace, componentName),