diff --git a/pkg/controller/machineset/controller.go b/pkg/controller/machineset/controller.go
index bcb54e5c01f8..9841a64460cb 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/machineset/controller.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/machineset/controller.go
@@ -39,6 +39,10 @@ import (
 // controllerKind contains the schema.GroupVersionKind for this controller type.
 var controllerKind = v1alpha1.SchemeGroupVersion.WithKind("MachineSet")
 
+// reconcileMutexSleepSec is the duration to sleep before releasing the mutex lock that is held for reconcilation.
+// See https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api/issues/245
+var reconcileMutexSleepSec = time.Second
+
 // +controller:group=cluster,version=v1alpha1,kind=MachineSet,resource=machinesets
 type MachineSetControllerImpl struct {
 	builders.DefaultControllerFns
@@ -118,6 +122,7 @@ func (c *MachineSetControllerImpl) Reconcile(machineSet *v1alpha1.MachineSet) er
 	mux := c.msKeyMuxMap[key]
 	mux.Lock()
 	defer mux.Unlock()
+	defer time.Sleep(reconcileMutexSleepSec)
 
 	glog.V(4).Infof("Reconcile machineset %v", machineSet.Name)
 	allMachines, err := c.machineLister.Machines(machineSet.Namespace).List(labels.Everything())
diff --git a/pkg/controller/machineset/reconcile_test.go b/pkg/controller/machineset/reconcile_test.go
index 46a5f60b07e7..af8ad76326b5 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/machineset/reconcile_test.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/machineset/reconcile_test.go
@@ -132,6 +132,7 @@ func TestMachineSetControllerReconcileHandler(t *testing.T) {
 		},
 	}
 
+	reconcileMutexSleepSec = 0
 	for _, test := range tests {
 		t.Run(test.name, func(t *testing.T) {
 			// setup the test scenario