diff --git a/catalogd/cmd/catalogd/main.go b/catalogd/cmd/catalogd/main.go
index 91d82bedd..66c455a10 100644
--- a/catalogd/cmd/catalogd/main.go
+++ b/catalogd/cmd/catalogd/main.go
@@ -235,9 +235,9 @@ func main() {
 		LeaderElectionID:       "catalogd-operator-lock",
 		// Recommended Leader Election values
 		// https://github.com/openshift/enhancements/blob/61581dcd985130357d6e4b0e72b87ee35394bf6e/CONVENTIONS.md#handling-kube-apiserver-disruption
-		LeaseDuration: ptr.To(137 * time.Second),
-		RenewDeadline: ptr.To(107 * time.Second),
-		RetryPeriod:   ptr.To(26 * time.Second),
+		LeaseDuration: ptr.To(137 * time.Second), // Default: 15s
+		RenewDeadline: ptr.To(107 * time.Second), // Default: 10s
+		RetryPeriod:   ptr.To(26 * time.Second),  // Default: 2s
 
 		WebhookServer: webhookServer,
 		Cache:         cacheOptions,
diff --git a/cmd/operator-controller/main.go b/cmd/operator-controller/main.go
index 76c0e4af4..1e3c1a699 100644
--- a/cmd/operator-controller/main.go
+++ b/cmd/operator-controller/main.go
@@ -235,9 +235,9 @@ func main() {
 		LeaderElectionID:       "9c4404e7.operatorframework.io",
 		// Recommended Leader Election values
 		// https://github.com/openshift/enhancements/blob/61581dcd985130357d6e4b0e72b87ee35394bf6e/CONVENTIONS.md#handling-kube-apiserver-disruption
-		LeaseDuration: ptr.To(137 * time.Second),
-		RenewDeadline: ptr.To(107 * time.Second),
-		RetryPeriod:   ptr.To(26 * time.Second),
+		LeaseDuration: ptr.To(137 * time.Second), // Default: 15s
+		RenewDeadline: ptr.To(107 * time.Second), // Default: 10s
+		RetryPeriod:   ptr.To(26 * time.Second),  // Default: 2s
 
 		Cache: cacheOptions,
 		// LeaderElectionReleaseOnCancel defines if the leader should step down voluntarily
diff --git a/test/upgrade-e2e/post_upgrade_test.go b/test/upgrade-e2e/post_upgrade_test.go
index 204c79330..e91b8873e 100644
--- a/test/upgrade-e2e/post_upgrade_test.go
+++ b/test/upgrade-e2e/post_upgrade_test.go
@@ -40,6 +40,21 @@ func TestClusterExtensionAfterOLMUpgrade(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Log("Wait for operator-controller deployment to be ready")
 	managerPod := waitForDeployment(t, ctx, "operator-controller-controller-manager")
 
+	t.Log("Start measuring leader election time")
+	// - Best case (new pod starts): ~1–5 seconds
+	// - Average case (leader exists, but lease not expired): +/-26–52 seconds
+	// - Worst case (leader was there but crashed): LeaseDuration (137s) + RetryPeriod (26s) +/- 163 secs
+	leaderStartTime := time.Now()
+	leaderElectionCtx, leaderCancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, 3*time.Minute)
+	defer leaderCancel()
+
+	leaderSubstrings := []string{"successfully acquired lease"}
+	leaderElected, err := watchPodLogsForSubstring(leaderElectionCtx, managerPod, "manager", leaderSubstrings...)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.True(t, leaderElected)
+	leaderElectionDuration := time.Since(leaderStartTime)
+	t.Logf("Leader election took %v seconds", leaderElectionDuration.Seconds())
+
 	t.Log("Reading logs to make sure that ClusterExtension was reconciled by operator-controller before we update it")
 	// Make sure that after we upgrade OLM itself we can still reconcile old objects without any changes
 	logCtx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, time.Minute)