diff --git a/pkg/controller/controller.go b/pkg/controller/controller.go
index 64a27a7a22..164167a8c2 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/controller.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/controller.go
@@ -78,15 +78,15 @@ func New(name string, mgr manager.Manager, options Options) (Controller, error)
 
 	// Create controller with dependencies set
 	c := &controller.Controller{
-		Do:       options.Reconciler,
-		Cache:    mgr.GetCache(),
-		Config:   mgr.GetConfig(),
-		Scheme:   mgr.GetScheme(),
-		Client:   mgr.GetClient(),
-		Recorder: mgr.GetRecorder(name),
-		Queue:    workqueue.NewNamedRateLimitingQueue(workqueue.DefaultControllerRateLimiter(), name),
+		Do:                      options.Reconciler,
+		Cache:                   mgr.GetCache(),
+		Config:                  mgr.GetConfig(),
+		Scheme:                  mgr.GetScheme(),
+		Client:                  mgr.GetClient(),
+		Recorder:                mgr.GetRecorder(name),
+		Queue:                   workqueue.NewNamedRateLimitingQueue(workqueue.DefaultControllerRateLimiter(), name),
 		MaxConcurrentReconciles: options.MaxConcurrentReconciles,
-		Name: name,
+		Name:                    name,
 	}
 
 	// Add the controller as a Manager components
diff --git a/pkg/internal/controller/controller_test.go b/pkg/internal/controller/controller_test.go
index 9015eaa518..c0e6efa96d 100644
--- a/pkg/internal/controller/controller_test.go
+++ b/pkg/internal/controller/controller_test.go
@@ -63,9 +63,9 @@ var _ = Describe("controller", func() {
 		informers = &informertest.FakeInformers{}
 		ctrl = &Controller{
 			MaxConcurrentReconciles: 1,
-			Do:    fakeReconcile,
-			Queue: queue,
-			Cache: informers,
+			Do:                      fakeReconcile,
+			Queue:                   queue,
+			Cache:                   informers,
 		}
 		ctrl.InjectFunc(func(interface{}) error { return nil })
 	})
diff --git a/pkg/manager/internal.go b/pkg/manager/internal.go
index ce723e36ae..a35d06ca20 100644
--- a/pkg/manager/internal.go
+++ b/pkg/manager/internal.go
@@ -83,6 +83,9 @@ type controllerManager struct {
 	errChan chan error
 	stop    <-chan struct{}
 
+	// stopper is the write side of the stop channel. They should have the same value.
+	stopper chan<- struct{}
+
 	startCache func(stop <-chan struct{}) error
 }
 
@@ -192,13 +195,16 @@ func (cm *controllerManager) serveMetrics(stop <-chan struct{}) {
 }
 
 func (cm *controllerManager) Start(stop <-chan struct{}) error {
+	// join the passed-in stop channel as an upstream feeding into cm.stopper
+	defer close(cm.stopper)
+
 	if cm.resourceLock != nil {
-		err := cm.startLeaderElection(stop)
+		err := cm.startLeaderElection()
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
 	} else {
-		go cm.start(stop)
+		go cm.start()
 	}
 
 	select {
@@ -211,30 +217,28 @@ func (cm *controllerManager) Start(stop <-chan struct{}) error {
 	}
 }
 
-func (cm *controllerManager) start(stop <-chan struct{}) {
+func (cm *controllerManager) start() {
 	cm.mu.Lock()
 	defer cm.mu.Unlock()
 
-	cm.stop = stop
-
 	// Start the Cache. Allow the function to start the cache to be mocked out for testing
 	if cm.startCache == nil {
 		cm.startCache = cm.cache.Start
 	}
 	go func() {
-		if err := cm.startCache(stop); err != nil {
+		if err := cm.startCache(cm.stop); err != nil {
 			cm.errChan <- err
 		}
 	}()
 
 	// Start the metrics server
 	if cm.metricsListener != nil {
-		go cm.serveMetrics(stop)
+		go cm.serveMetrics(cm.stop)
 	}
 
 	// Wait for the caches to sync.
 	// TODO(community): Check the return value and write a test
-	cm.cache.WaitForCacheSync(stop)
+	cm.cache.WaitForCacheSync(cm.stop)
 
 	// Start the runnables after the cache has synced
 	for _, c := range cm.runnables {
@@ -242,14 +246,14 @@ func (cm *controllerManager) start(stop <-chan struct{}) {
 		// Write any Start errors to a channel so we can return them
 		ctrl := c
 		go func() {
-			cm.errChan <- ctrl.Start(stop)
+			cm.errChan <- ctrl.Start(cm.stop)
 		}()
 	}
 
 	cm.started = true
 }
 
-func (cm *controllerManager) startLeaderElection(stop <-chan struct{}) (err error) {
+func (cm *controllerManager) startLeaderElection() (err error) {
 	l, err := leaderelection.NewLeaderElector(leaderelection.LeaderElectionConfig{
 		Lock: cm.resourceLock,
 		// Values taken from: https://github.com/kubernetes/apiserver/blob/master/pkg/apis/config/v1alpha1/defaults.go
@@ -259,7 +263,7 @@ func (cm *controllerManager) startLeaderElection(stop <-chan struct{}) (err erro
 		RetryPeriod:   2 * time.Second,
 		Callbacks: leaderelection.LeaderCallbacks{
 			OnStartedLeading: func(_ <-chan struct{}) {
-				cm.start(stop)
+				cm.start()
 			},
 			OnStoppedLeading: func() {
 				// Most implementations of leader election log.Fatal() here.
diff --git a/pkg/manager/manager.go b/pkg/manager/manager.go
index c2adce3f70..5966714663 100644
--- a/pkg/manager/manager.go
+++ b/pkg/manager/manager.go
@@ -200,6 +200,8 @@ func New(config *rest.Config, options Options) (Manager, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
+	stop := make(chan struct{})
+
 	return &controllerManager{
 		config:           config,
 		scheme:           options.Scheme,
@@ -219,6 +221,8 @@ func New(config *rest.Config, options Options) (Manager, error) {
 		resourceLock:     resourceLock,
 		mapper:           mapper,
 		metricsListener:  metricsListener,
+		stop:             stop,
+		stopper:          stop,
 	}, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/manager/manager_test.go b/pkg/manager/manager_test.go
index f9a2ceb4e4..759750708d 100644
--- a/pkg/manager/manager_test.go
+++ b/pkg/manager/manager_test.go
@@ -497,8 +497,7 @@ var _ = Describe("manger.Manager", func() {
 				},
 				stop: func(stop <-chan struct{}) error {
 					defer GinkgoRecover()
-					// Manager stop chan has not been initialized.
-					Expect(stop).To(BeNil())
+					Expect(stop).NotTo(BeNil())
 					return nil
 				},
 				f: func(f inject.Func) error {