is it possible for a team to "lower a bar" without removing your fingers from the bottom?

Question

We had a meeting at work today with a little demonstration by the president. he divided us into two teams of 10, 5 facing 5, and instructed us to simply lower a bar of steel to the floor; the only "customer requirement" was at no time was anyone's fingers to not touch the bar.
the outcome: the bar of steel kept going up instead of down, no matter how much crabbing and complaining to each other ("why are you raising instead of lowering!!" and "down, not up you idiots!")
can this be done? or because everyone is so intent on keeping their fingers on the bar, it will never go down, only up??

Answer 1

With this demo, the ighter the bar, the more difficult it is. If it were a very heavy bar, each person would be holding enough weight that they could maintain contact and lower the bar.

It is an intersting exercise.

Answer 2

I've seen this before at events and what not. It has been done. But as stated before, it takes a really cooperative group, and a lot of times, you have to reach everyone's height limit before people really start getting the hang of it and drop it down.

Answer 3

You need a REALLY coordinated group of people but most likely it wont happen cause one will always think hey my fingers are coming off and start raising. So yes its possible but very very unlikely.