diff --git a/roles/tower/tasks/initialize.yml b/roles/tower/tasks/initialize.yml
index 0658ae5d..20dcffbb 100644
--- a/roles/tower/tasks/initialize.yml
+++ b/roles/tower/tasks/initialize.yml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 ---
 - name: Check if there are any Tower super users defined.
   shell: >-
-    kubectl exec -n {{ meta.namespace }} {{ tower_pod_name }} -- bash -c
+    kubectl exec -n {{ meta.namespace }} -c tower-task {{ tower_pod_name }} -- bash -c
     "echo 'from django.contrib.auth.models import User;
     nsu = User.objects.filter(is_superuser=True).count();
     exit(0 if nsu > 0 else 1)'
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 
 - name: Create Tower super user via Django if it doesn't exist.
   shell: >-
-    kubectl exec -n {{ meta.namespace }} {{ tower_pod_name }} -- bash -c
+    kubectl exec -n {{ meta.namespace }} -c tower-task {{ tower_pod_name }} -- bash -c
     "echo \"from django.contrib.auth.models import User;
     User.objects.create_superuser('{{ tower_admin_user }}', '{{ tower_admin_email }}', '{{ tower_admin_password }}')\"
     | awx-manage shell"
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 
 - name: Create preload data if necessary.  # noqa 305
   shell: >-
-    kubectl exec -n {{ meta.namespace }} {{ tower_pod_name }} -- bash -c
+    kubectl exec -n {{ meta.namespace }} -c tower-task {{ tower_pod_name }} -- bash -c
     "awx-manage create_preload_data"
   register: cdo
   changed_when: "'added' in cdo.stdout"
diff --git a/roles/tower/tasks/main.yml b/roles/tower/tasks/main.yml
index 369501fd..4c58dfba 100644
--- a/roles/tower/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/tower/tasks/main.yml
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
 
 - name: Check if database is populated (auth_user table exists).
   shell: >-
-    kubectl exec -n {{ meta.namespace }} {{ tower_pod_name }} -- bash -c
+    kubectl exec -n {{ meta.namespace }} -c tower-task {{ tower_pod_name }} -- bash -c
     "echo 'from django.db import connection;
     tbl = \"auth_user\" in connection.introspection.table_names();
     exit(0 if tbl else 1)'
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@
 
 - name: Migrate the database if the K8s resources were updated.  # noqa 305
   shell: >-
-    kubectl exec -n {{ meta.namespace }} {{ tower_pod_name }} -- bash -c
+    kubectl exec -n {{ meta.namespace }} -c tower-task {{ tower_pod_name }} -- bash -c
     "awx-manage migrate --noinput"
   register: migrate_result
   when: (k8s_defs_result is changed) or (database_check is defined and database_check.rc != 0)