KPIs are actually very good when used properly, but they are (like many things) easily misused. For example if you provide a service then your obvious choice for the team's primary KPI would be service uptime.

Use SMART objectives (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bounded) and set a realistic service uptime (e.g. how many nines you want in a given month/quarter/whatever) and KPIs directly enable good decisionmaking at all levels of the org.

Manager up in your grill about a choice you made? Point at the KPIs and say "this will help make it easier to meet our objectives for KPI 1.1" or whatever.