Why not dream big? what is the point of having a bite sized dream? Go for it all, get crazy, set your goals as large as you can imagine.
I have a recent experience where I challenged a team of software testers who were under-performing. Defects were leaking into the end product; customer satisfaction was low. In essence this team was on life-support and the client was ready to replace and move on. Their testing effort took days to complete, and in the world of software development that is simply not sustainable. My initial challenge was to reduce the testing time by 30%. This meant a cut of over 4.5 hours. A goal is not a goal without a timeframe, so 60 days was granted much to the objection of the team.
I will point out that to be successful in your goal, you do need to have a certain level of buy-in from your team, and your expectations should force them to stretch, but not be so outrageous morale slips and the goal dies upon inception. In this case, the team objected, and conversations were held, and in the end the once unfathomable goal was surpassed in half the time. How? What was the magic sauce to accomplish what others had failed in doing? Setting a clear goal-30% reduction in regression testing time in 60 days. Discussing the goal, and hearing concerns. Asking clarifying questions--my favorite is 'Why'.
In the end, the real secret is setting an expectation, giving the vision and tools to succeed, believing in the team and driving them to achieve more than they thought they could. In the end, great things can and will be achieved when leadership supports and challenges teams, and above all provides clear communications on expectations. Teams want to succeed, and when they do be ready to heap praise and celebrate the win with anyone who will listen, then get to work thinking of the next challenge. What you will see is winning and losing in business is contagious, it is easy to fail a few times and stay in a rut, but it is just as easy to keep the wins coming in once a team turns the corner and reverses course.
