Overly aggressive targets
It's tempting to think that setting aggressive "stretch" targets for your metrics will get your employees' competitive juices flowing and generate unprecedented performance. While that's a possibility, aggressive targets can also demoralize your employees if they lack the resources to meet the targets and if they view the targets as unreachable and unrealistic. You want to set targets high enough to inspire your direct reports to reach for better performance—but not so high that employees conclude they can't possibly reach them.
Setting overly aggressive targets can backfire in another way—by motivating unethical, possibly even illegal, behavior.
For example, tough sales and revenue targets have led to serious problems in the insurance industry, resulting in a federal investigation of company practices.