The Blues sit second in the table with a game in hand on leaders Coventry after Tuesday night’s victory at Milton Keynes, which continued an eight-game unbeaten start to the league campaign.
Keane, who played an hour against the Dons as he steps up his return from hamstring surgery, admitted Lambert was a big draw when he decided to return to Ipswich in August and believes the Town boss will be relentless in his quest for success.
"I really enjoyed working with him last year and felt he got the best out of me," he said.
MORE: Dave Gooderham - there's nothing wrong with winning ugly now and again"He's a really experienced manager who has been there and done it himself so he's passing that on to us. You can see the hunger he brings to the place every day and he's not going to settle for it even though we're near the top.
"He's got really high standards and that's hopefully going to push us.
"We were talking the other day in a team meeting about how we've done well to switch it to a winning mentality after last year was a struggle.
"We had some disappointing results last season but we've got it back now.
MORE: 'I'm more than capable of getting double figures' - Nolan sets goal target after MK Dons winner"That breeds confidence and we want more of it. You can see the atmosphere winning games has brought to Portman Road and the place in general and it's a good feeling to have.
"We have to keep feeding off that."
Returning to Ipswich this summer meant a drop into the third tier for the first time in his career, which began at Manchester United and continued with a move to then Premier League side Hull in 2016.
But he hopes it's only a temporary stay, both for him and the Blues.
MORE: Keane is fit and raring to go after making Ipswich Town return"I've played in the Championship over the last couple of years and I see myself as playing at that standard and hopefully even higher, but sometimes you have to take a step down to then spring forward," he said.
"There's no better place to do that (than Ipswich) because of the size of the club. It's still got the feel about it as a Championship club at least in the way the manager treats his players and how it's run on a day-to-day basis.
"Hopefully it's just one year and we can go back up again with a bit of momentum."
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