diff --git a/internal/config/config.go b/internal/config/config.go
index 6a3b7e53..ef1b627b 100644
--- a/internal/config/config.go
+++ b/internal/config/config.go
@@ -29,5 +29,5 @@ type Config struct {
 	RegistryURL      url.URL       `default:"tcp://localhost:5001" desc:"A NSE registry url to use" split_words:"true"`
 	MaxTokenLifetime time.Duration `default:"10m" desc:"maximum lifetime of tokens" split_words:"true"`
 	LogLevel         string        `default:"INFO" desc:"Log level" split_words:"true"`
-	DialTimeout      time.Duration `default:"1s" desc:"Timeout for the dial the next endpoint" split_words:"true"`
+	DialTimeout      time.Duration `default:"10ms" desc:"Timeout for the dial the next endpoint" split_words:"true"`
 }
diff --git a/internal/manager/manager.go b/internal/manager/manager.go
index a8fced3b..cc5ff228 100644
--- a/internal/manager/manager.go
+++ b/internal/manager/manager.go
@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@ func RunNsmgr(ctx context.Context, configuration *config.Config) error {
 						credentials.NewTLS(tlsconfig.MTLSClientConfig(m.source, m.source, tlsconfig.AuthorizeAny())),
 					),
 				),
+				grpc.WithBlock(),
 				grpc.WithDefaultCallOptions(
 					grpc.PerRPCCredentials(token.NewPerRPCCredentials(spiffejwt.TokenGeneratorFunc(m.source, configuration.MaxTokenLifetime))),
 				),